School Daze
by evilregal-lp
Summary: (AU) Emma is the Mythical Studies teacher at Storybrooke High School. Regina is the principal. Their history is full of love and loss. Their future... only time will tell. (Rated M for later chapters)
1. First Day of School

**Hello again. Here we go starting round two. I decided since I read a lot of swan queen that I would give it a go. I rated it M for later chapters, and 'll give you a heads up for when they are. I loved the feedback I got from my first FF and this one has been fun to write so I can;t wait to see what you guys think. **

**Enjoy! **

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><p><span><strong>First Day of School<strong>

"No running!" Emma called out at a couple of boys sprinting past her down the hall. She shook her head as she stood at her door waiting for the rest of her class to file in and take their seats.

Today was the first day back at Storybrooke High after a seemingly restless and uneventful summer for the blonde. She planned on taking a trip with her son, Henry, to Tallahassee, but between basketball camps and her seemingly depleting lack of funds, they decided to postpone the trip till the holidays. She was grateful that Henry took the news well, seeing as he had been really looking forward to the trip. However the promise of spending a few extra days over the holidays seemed to lighten the bad news.

The final bell rang, signaling the start of first period. Emma waited an extra minute at her door, knowing that there would be a few stragglers on the first day. Storybrooke High School was not large on any scale, and it was pretty easy to figure out your way around, but nevertheless Emma liked to be a little lenient with tardies on the first day.

"Good Morning guys!" Emma smiled when she entered her classroom.

"Good morning, Ms. Swan." The class sluggishly repeated.

"Glad to hear you are all excited about the year. How was everyone's summer? Anyone have any good stories? Go anywhere interesting?" She stepped behind a small podium set at the front of the class next to her projector. She shifted through a stack of papers on the podium as she spoke and looked up when she found her roster sheet. A couple of sporadic hands had gone up around the room. "Yeah, what's your name?" She pointed to a young red-headed girl in the front row.

"My name is Gretel." The girl said enthusiastically. Emma hung on the name for a moment then checked it off her roll sheet.

"Alright, what did you do this summer?"

Emma half listened to the girl's seemingly never ending story about herself and her brother's travels throughout the summer. She was distracted by the thought of not being able to take Henry anywhere for the break. After listening to a few more stories, she felt downright terrible. What kind of parent doesn't let their kid do fun things over the summer?

"Alright well, it seems like everyone is here. So let's get rolling with what's going to happen this year. As you know this class is your Mythical Studies course. We will be studying lots of old tales and stories from all over the world as well as reading a few books. The majority of your grade will come from analysis of those books. You will be required to read them and we will discuss them in class. One book equals one Unit, and we will have four units. Each book has between 3-4 different stories in them, and we will spend an ample amount of time on all of them. I'm hoping at the end of the year we can all be grateful that we live in a time where locking our daughters away in towers is quite unacceptable."

A small mumble spread across the room. Thankfully a few of them got the reference Emma was trying to make. She had never been completely successful with that joke in the past, but it seemed each year she got a few more who enjoyed it.

She passed out the syllabus to everyone and read over all of the monotonous rules for classroom conduct and punctuality. The students seemed thoroughly unimpressed by all the usually boring first-day-stuff they always had to sit through. Emma herself sometimes hated the structured first-day-stuff as well, and was always anxious to get started with the year.

Emma had taken this job a few years ago after moving up from Boston with her son. After working her way through college and struggling to find a job in the bustling city she figured a change in scenery would be good for both of them. Henry was too young at the time for the change to really affect him and after landing the job pretty quickly she was sure she made the right decision. The school system was great for both her and Henry, and the town seemed to love having the new addition.

The bell rang almost as soon as she finished up the last sentence from her syllabus. "Okay, don't forget to go get those books. I expect you to have them by the end of the week. You will need to start reading pretty quick or you will get behind." The class hurriedly packed up their backpacks and left the room into the busy hallway.

When the last student filed out she sighed and plopped down in her chair at her desk. Clicking open her email, she saw she already had a number of unread messages from a few of her coworkers. She didn't have a class for second period so she plugged in her headphones and clicked open a few of them. Before she could get to far into them she heard a knock at her door. When she turned around she saw a dark haired woman sticking her head through the entry.

Emma took her headphones out and waved her in. "Mary Margaret, come in!" She got up and met the fellow teacher halfway, wrapping her in a hug.

"Hey, Emma! How are you doing?" Mary Margaret returned the warm hug and then stood back examining Emma from head to toe. "You look so great. I can't believe it's only been a few months since I've seen you."

"I know. Thank you. You look pretty great yourself. I saw that you tied the knot this summer? Congratulations!" Emma smiled, happy to see her coworker.

"Yes I did. Me and David are doing fantastic. Still in that newlywed phase you could say. We took our honeymoon for a few weeks down in Cancun. Oh, Emma, it was simply gorgeous down there." Her cheeks lit up from their normal shape of pale white. Emma admired the delicate tone of her skin, and always seemed to think that it looked like snow.

"That's great. I'm sorry Henry and I couldn't make it, we have been so busy, and taking the drive down there was just going to be too much." Emma said disappointedly.

"Oh no, Emma, please don't be sorry. We totally understand. I know it's tough having kids. And you, being a single mother, I know that's hard. Me and David are nervous about having kids." Mary Margaret brushed through her hair and pulled at the ends of her long sleeve sweater.

"Oh they will run your life, that's for sure. But it's great. I couldn't have asked for a better kid."

"Well you're a great mother as well." Mary Margaret smiled, laying a gentle hand on Emma's arm.

"Thanks. How was your first class?" Emma asked leaning up against one of the desks in the front of the classroom.

"Oh you know. Boring as usual. But I think it'll be a good year." Mary Margaret sighed as she spoke.

"Same here. I had a couple kids who seemed enthusiastic, so maybe it will be a fun year."

"Have you talked to Principal Mills yet?" Mary Margaret asked. Emma heard her friend slightly gasp as soon as she asked the question.

Emma paused a moment, biting at her lip before she answered. "Uh… no I haven't talked to her yet. I was kind of hoping to put that off as long as possible."

"I'm sorry, Emma. I shouldn't have asked. I know y'all have had a rough past couple of months." Mary Margaret bit her nails, anxious about where this conversation was about to head.

"A few months? That's putting it lightly. I've been avoiding her since the middle of last year when… it doesn't matter." Emma went and slouched down in her chair at her desk. Mary Margaret walked up to Emma and looked down at her concerned.

"Emma you can't just avoid her. She is the principal of the school you work for. Yeah you and Regina ended on a bad note, but it's bad for morale to just walk around hating each other."

"Yeah I don't think you could call what happened just "bad". And I don't hate her, I'm just… disappointed."

"Well whatever it was, you two need to find a way to get past it. I feel like the whole school is walking on egg shells through all the tension." Mary Margaret waved away the conversation to the relief of both women. The bell rang around them, and Emma could already feel her headache burning between her ears. "That's the call I suppose. I got class this period." Mary Margaret headed out the door. "Come to my room for lunch okay?"

Emma gave a slight smile and waved as Mary Margaret closed the door behind her. Emma forced herself out of her chair as a couple of kids ran past her room into the classroom next door. She put on a brave face and smiled as they ran by. The last thing she needed was for the kids to suspect anything. Nothing spreads as fast as gossip in a small town high school.

If there ever was the longest day recorded in history, today beat it by a couple of hours. Emma hardly had the energy to think, let alone make it out of her classroom and head home. It looked like Henry was going to be having cereal tonight because she didn't feel like cooking anything special, even if it was the first day of school.

Before she could get out of her classroom, she heard another ringing sound. This time from her room phone. "Lord, what now?" She mumbled to herself huffing back into her classroom. She plopped her bags down in her chair and leaned over to pick up the phone. "Hello?" She answered annoyed.

"Ms. Swan, Principal Mills wants to see you in her office before you leave for the day." The other woman on the phone sounded just as tired as Emma, but she hardly noticed passed the mention of Regina's name.

"Okay." Emma slammed down the phone, standing in the darkness of her classroom. She contemplated just leaving and not even going to her office. "Why didn't she just call me herself." Emma mumbled and wondered if what Mary Margaret had said earlier was true and the two of them needed to work things out, even though every bone in her body was telling her to just get in her car and go. She knew she couldn't go the rest of her life working here and avoiding Regina at the same time. She huffed her bags over her shoulder and rolled her eyes to the darkness as she left into the hallway.

"Hey Ruby." Emma waved as she passed by the woman who had called her at the secretary's desk on the way to Regina's office.

"Hey, Emma. Be careful, she is in one of her moods today." Ruby motioned her finger across her neck.

"Isn't she always?" Emma joked turning down the hall.

Emma slowed her pace as she heard the woman's voice, beckoning from an open door at the end of the hallway. She couldn't see her, but she could hear her heels clicking on the hardwood floor of the office. The feelings of the past who-knows-how-long flooded back to Emma. Each click of Regina's heel was like a knife to Emma's heart. She felt uneasy, her stomach twisting into knots. She wanted to just turn around and make up an excuse and go home, but there was something holding her back. The history she shared with Regina was more than she wanted to admit, and more than she ever wanted to spend the time talking through.

The sound of a sniffling boy caught Emma's attention back towards Regina's office. A young boy, probably a freshman sulked out through the doorway, wiping a tear from his cheek. He looked up at Emma and then down at his shoes, embarrassed no doubt by his lack of control over his emotions.

Emma smirked, propping herself in the doorway to Regina's office. "First day and you are already making kids cry?" Regina looked up, unamused by Emma's attitude.

"Ms. Swan, always a pleasure." Regina looked back down to the paperwork stacked in front of her.

"Back to formalities already?" Emma strode in, trying to look and sound as confident as possible even though she was crumbling like a piece of useless paper in the wind on the inside. She fingered a couple of decorations on Regina's bookshelf hoping to avoid eye contact.

"Well I am your boss and you are my employee, so yes, formalities are a given." Regina's tone was spiteful, and Emma felt every sting.

"Ouch." Emma smirked under her breath. She didn't bother turning to address the heels clicking toward her. Emma winced as her eyes fell on a picture of a happy couple sitting on the bookshelf in front of her.

"Look I have a meeting in ten minutes I just need you to sign some paper work. Since you don't seem to answer any of your emails, we have had to wait till the last minute to get this done." The clicking stopped behind Emma and her body shivered at the ice coming from the principals attitude. She did forget all about the emails she had received this morning after getting caught up with Mary Margaret.

"How's Daniel?" Emma mumbled.

"Is this really what you want to talk about right now?" Regina squeezed the bridge of her nose and sighed in frustration and exhaustion.

"No." Emma admitted turning to find the woman much further from her than she was comfortable with.

"Good, then just sign the papers and you can go home." Regina turned swiftly and clicked back to her desk. Emma followed like a lost puppy and waited for Regina to hand her the papers. Yet another picture of a happy couple sat on Regina's desk. Emma could feel herself sinking down further than she could stand. Why was she feeling so uncomfortable? The formalities where not something Emma was comfortable with at all, and the fact that she felt like Regina was almost repulsed by her presence made her want to turn on her heels and run out of the office.

"What are they for?" Emma asked taking the small packet from Regina. She flipped through a couple pages but didn't process any of the words on the page.

"They are for the approval of a new program that will be starting at the school next year. I have to get signatures from all of the teachers so we can be approved for a test period sometime this year. Two teachers will be chosen at random to test the program." Regina tapped a finger on her desk as Emma sat down, flipping through a couple more pages.

"What's the program?" Emma asked. Regina rolled her eyes impatiently and Emma remembering they were on a time schedule. Of all the things Regina didn't like, it was to be late..

"It's an after school tutoring program." Regina stated plainly.

"Oh." Emma mouthed. "Can I borrow a pen?" She looked up solemnly at the woman standing over her.

"Here." Emma reached out, their fingers grazing as they exchanged the pen. Emma swallowed hard hoping her slight hesitation from the feelings went unnoticed. She cleared her throat and signed the multiple pages of the document.

The silence in the room felt heavy in the air, and Emma struggled to breathe. She looked up from the papers in her lap and watched Regina who had become enwrapped among the other paperwork on her desk. Emma realized she hadn't been in the same room as Regina since last year. The brunette in front of her seemed to not notice Emma's stare as she kept busy with her work. Emma watched her, her dark chocolate hair falling in her face as she wrote away on a slip of paper. Her face seemed emotionless, unlike what Emma remembered from their past. She could remember when there was life in Regina's cheeks, color to her skin, happiness in her tone. Now, she just looked like a normal person, someone who deserved more than she had.

Emma blinked out of her stare and cleared her throat, standing and placing the paperwork in front of Regina, breaking the concentration of whatever she was writing.

"Thank you. I'll send out an email with more information soon." Regina stood grabbing the packet as well as the papers she was scribbling on and walked around her desk. "Now if you will excuse me, I have a meeting to attend to."

Emma squinted her eyes at the woman, thinking hard about the situation they were in.

"I'm sorry, is there a problem, Ms. Swan?" Regina raised her eyebrow and her eyes studied the woman still standing in front of her.

"No problem." Emma smirked. "No problem at all." She picked up her bags and turned out the door. She didn't wait to see but she knew it drove Regina crazy to end meetings on an improper farewell, but she felt completely satisfied that she came out of the office somewhat ahead of the game. And not only that, she got a full body examination from the brunette as well.

When she reached Ruby's desk she leaned over the secretary's desk and sighed.

"Well you don't look like you are missing any limbs, so I guess it went well?" Ruby checked Emma up and down for any bruises.

"Nah, she was a little short, but I would be too if I had her job." Emma waved her away.

"Oh, already playing the sympathy card on the first day huh? Are you getting soft on me Ms. Swan?" Ruby eyed her playfully.

"No, and don't call me that. She calls me that." Emma darted her eyes down the hall. "Anyway, you want to go out for some drinks? Henry has basketball practice and he is getting a ride home from his friend. I could really use something to help me forget this day."

"Hell yeah… oops! I mean, yes… yes I would love to go get drinks." Ruby stood up enthusiastically and grabbed her purse.

Emma wasn't completely dissatisfied with the day. She was glad to be back at work, seeing as it was hopefully going to be less stressful than the past summer. However, her and Regina still didn't seem to be on the best of terms, and it was definitely uncomfortable to see her that way. Maybe in a few months they would actually be able to spend more than five minutes together without eating each other alive. Only time will tell.


	2. Daniel

**Got some good feedback from the first chapter! Got a ways to go though. The timeline for this story is going to move fast so just be ready. Time to learn a bit about Regina! **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><span><strong>Daniel<strong>

Regina's temples flared as she half listened to the obnoxious man reading from the PowerPoint presentation lighting up the small, dark room. She sighed, tapping her pen on the table in front of her hoping to keep her nerves under control. She hated these meetings. Primarily because they were all but useful. They had received all the information for this project nearly two weeks ago and if people didn't understand by now they never would.

"Does anyone have any questions?" The older man leaned on his cane at the head of the table, finally done with his monotonous presentation.

"So, what kind of teachers are you looking for to choose for this test period?" A woman sitting across from Regina asked. Regina raised an eyebrow at her, seeing as the man answered that question about half way through his presentation.

"Well, like I said Ms. Nolan, I will be pairing the principals of each of your schools with a teacher at random. I will email you all in a few days and let you know who has been chosen. We are hoping this program will really boost the grades of our students in our district."

"Mr. Gold, I think we've all got a handle on things." Regina stood up annoyed at the length of time this meeting was taking away from her evening, and to be frank, she didn't want to spend any more time than she had to in the same room with that man.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Mills, are we keeping you from something?" Mr. Gold twitched his hair out of his face and clenched his cane as he stepped over toward Regina.

"As a matter of fact, yes, you are. We all got the paperwork for this program weeks ago. If anyone in this room doesn't know what's going on, I highly doubt this meeting is going to clear anything up." Regina cocked her eye brow and stuck her paperwork in her purse, avoiding eye contact with the advancing man.

"Well, I'm certainly glad you are as excited as everyone else to get started. As a matter of fact, I think I will promote you to senior advisor over the project. You're Welcome, Mrs. Mills." Mr. Gold smirked at the brunette standing in front of him. She pursed her lips as she stared at him, trying to figure out what was going on in his wormy little head.

"Have a good evening, Mr. Gold." She forced a thin smile across her face then turned out of the room. Leaving that room was probably the smartest thing she had done all day, seeing as if she had stayed a minute longer she may have said something she regretted. Mr. Gold was a nasty man who somehow got promoted to District Supervisor ironically the same year Regina applied, and lucky for him, his generous donations to the district helped him get the position. She was surprised he even took his job even remotely seriously. Giving her the senior advisor position on this project was just a slap in the face.

She tossed her bags in the back seat of her Mercedes and huffed into the front seat. These were the days when she wondered what compelled her to be a principal. She used to enjoy her job, but recently she had become bitter to it all. The children running through the halls was just a reminder of her own secrets. Something was missing in her life, that much she knew. She had gained so much in the last few months, but it was paid by a terrible loss as well.

"Daniel?" Regina called out as she stepped through her front door, tossing her keys in the bowl on the table near her. The house was silent, which was not normal seeing as ever since Daniel had returned from the war he had been doing all kinds of interesting construction projects all over the house to keep him busy. It had seemed since he had been gone, Regina didn't have the means or the knowledge to fix certain things around the house, and drastic measures call for drastic fixes in a way. Let's just say she was not the handiest of house keepers. Besides all of that though, the house was usually spotless.

"Daniel?" She called out again, poking her head into the kitchen to check for him.

"Up here." She heard a muffled shout from one of the bedrooms upstairs, and headed up toward the sound. When she reached the doorway she couldn't help but smile, seeing him awkwardly balancing on a ladder under the ceiling fan of one of their guest rooms. He was twisted at an awkward position trying to tighten the last screw on the blades. His dark hair had grown out since his return and she could almost remember what he looked like before he left.

"Hey. What are you up to now?" Regina circled him on the ladder, examining his manly features. His jeans were spattered with paint along with his shoes, his white shirt half tucked in, half untucked from his waist. His muscles flexed as he worked away at the fan.

"Well…" His voice strained on the last turn of his screwdriver. "I figured, what's the point of having a fan in the room if it doesn't work, right?" He dropped his screwdriver in his toolbox and then let himself down the ladder. He gave her a quick smile then flipped the switch on the wall. "Voila!"

"You are truly the handiest of handymen." Regina smiled, approaching Daniel and wrapping her arms around his waist.

Daniel smiled down into her deep brown eyes, captivated by her beauty. He pulled his hand up to her face, his thumb caressed her cheek. She closed her eyes and pushed her cheek into his hand, his warmth pulsing through her skin.

"Have I told you how much I missed you?" Daniel whispered. He pulled her to his lips. It was gentle at first but progressed quickly, their lips pushing harder together. Regina felt her body being pushed back, unable to equal his advance on her. She allowed her body to be led by him until her back felt the hardness of the wall behind her. He pushed himself into her, his hands intertwined in her hair. She moaned into him, taking in the pressure of his body.

His lips moved downward, nipping at her neck and chin. She kept her eyes closed, allowing him to take control of her. He kissed his way back to her lips, his hands traveling down to her shoulders, and slipping underneath her jacket. She felt his fingers move down her bare arms, her jacket slumping to the ground at her feet.

She took in his feeling, but something was wrong. Something was different about this. She suddenly felt uncomfortable in his embrace, like she was doing something wrong.

"Wait." She whispered as his hands moved up into her blouse. "I… I can't." She pushed him away gently, his fingers lingering on the smoothness of her stomach before dropping to his sides. She could hardly look into his eyes as the sadness of rejection and confusion came pouring out of them at her. Her breath was heavy, and her eyes darted sporadically around the room, and she could feel her hands shaking.

"Regina, what is it? What's wrong? We haven't been together since I came home. What can I do?" Daniel pleaded pulling his hand through his short hair. The light from the window dimming his normally bright blue eyes. "Why can't we do this, Regina?" He pleaded, pacing in front of her. She could see the anger that he was trying to suppress leaking through in his voice.

"I'm sorry. I'm… I'm just not ready. I don't know." Regina's voice cracked from the weakness.

"Is it me?" He stopped. He looked so hurt, like someone had just ripped his heart out.

"Daniel, no!" Regina stepped toward him taking his head in her hands, her eyes locked on his. "It's not you. I promise."

"I love you, Regina. Is that not enough?" He couldn't hold back the single tear that fell from his eye. Regina watched it roll down his cheek before ending at the swipe of her thumb.

"I just need some time to get my head straight." She let go of him and took a few steps away to the window outside. She designed this room to be a nursery if she had ever had a child. This was actually the first time she had been in the room since he left. It felt so unfamiliar to her. Like she really wasn't there.

"I've been home for months. How much more time do you need?" The anger in his voice had subsided and was now more concerned than anything.

"It's not that simple. I thought you were dead. They told me you were dead." She turned to face him, no longer able to hide her own tears. "I thought I was never going to see you again. And then you just show up. Like a ghost. I still don't know if it's all real." She wiped the tears from her cheek and looked down at her shaking hands.

"Regina." He closed the distance between them, lifting her head up from her chin. "This is real. I'm real, I'm right here." he sighed and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "If you need space, then I will respect your wishes."

Her body shivered as the words went in. They were like ice to her bones, making them feel rigid and hard. Deep down she wanted things to go back to the way they were, but they were different people and seemed to have grown apart. She had learned to live her life without him, and now she was having to revert back to her old ways. She was happy with him once, but something inside her had changed.

Regina was restless that night, which had become a familiar thing for her. When Daniel first arrived home, she slept better than she had before. But as the months drug on, the less sleep she was able to get. Mostly because her dreams would take her back to places she needed to forget. Being with Daniel meant forgetting what happened, it meant forgetting…her. She hadn't told Daniel about her, and she hoped she never would have. She knew it would be upsetting and he had already been through so much, she just wanted him to be happy again. She remembered how great things where before he left, and with all her heart she wanted that again. However, the space growing between them in their bed was getting bigger every night.

The sooner she settled her feelings with the past, the sooner she felt things would get better between her and Daniel. Tomorrow, she would fix this. Tomorrow, things were going to change.

Morning came all too swiftly for Regina. She hardly felt like she even closed her eyes before the alarm on her cell phone buzzed in her ears. She swiped the screen to turn it off and then twisted over in the covers. Daniel side of the bed was empty and cold, which she was not surprised with at all. Because of his time spent in the army, they trained him to be up before the sun. The only difference was she couldn't smell the usual scent of fresh coffee that wafted from the kitchen.

She checked her phone again to make sure she set her alarm right and didn't sleep in too much. The house was quiet as she made her way down the stairs, expecting to see Daniel with his newspaper sitting in his recliner in the living room. But there was no one. No coffee, no sounds, no Daniel.

She opened her phone and found his number and called him. Maybe he decided to go for a run or something. But he was usually good about telling her the night before or leaving a note for her to find. Neither of which she found.

"Hello, you've reached Daniel, please leave a message…"

She hit the end button before the automated voice finished. Something seemed odd about all of this but she couldn't put a finger on it. Maybe if she took her shower he would be back by the time she was out.

The water that ran down her body was like a warm blanket over her chilled skin. The soap lathered around her curves as she let the warmth cover her from head to toe. Unlike some people Regina never found the shower to be a good place to wash away her stresses or a place for deep thinking. But this morning she took her time finishing up. Anything to keep her out of reality was good enough for her at the moment.

As she wrapped her towel around her body, she heard the front door squeak open and shut.

"Daniel?" She hollered, pinning up her wet hair and heading out of her room. She could hear his heavy boots on the kitchen floor and when she popped her head in, he had taken a seat at the kitchen table, a brown sack sitting in front of him.

"Hey, you okay? I tried to call." She approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to resent the touch and so she let her hand slowly slide away. His face looked flustered and his eyes were red like he hadn't gotten any sleep at all.

"Daniel, what's going on?" She asked him.

He turned to her and his placid face turned up into a strange smile. He rose up from his spot at the table and took a step closer to her. She backed away a little, finding his behavior very strange.

"Everything is going to be just fine." He whispered, taking her head in her hands and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. She barely responded to the pressure and instead kept her eyes plastered on him, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

Before she could say anything else he walked away and up to their bedroom. She heard the water begin running through the walls and guessed he had gotten in the shower. She realized he had left the brown sack on the kitchen table and decided to see what was inside.

Her feet hit the cold linoleum of the kitchen as she made her way to the table. The bag was folded at the top and her fingers shook a little as she unfolded the paper, not knowing at all what could be inside. She leaned over to see what was inside and her eyes widened at the black mass that lay in her vision. She stuck her hand in and wrapped her fingers around the cold metal handle and pulled it out of the bag.

The gun was heavier than she would have expected, and her skin tingled around the handle. What would Daniel be doing with a gun? As she examined it, she hardly even noticed him walk back into the room.

"It's not what you think." His voice was low and seductive.

Regina flipped around, the gun nearly flipping out of her hand. Her heart pounded in her chest at the sight of him. His hair wet, his white shirt littered with grey spots where he didn't get himself totally dry and his jeans hanging from his waist.

"Why do you have a gun?" Regina questioned placing the gun on the table next to her.

"Asks the wife to her soldier husband." He smirked. "I'm a soldier Regina. I have guns. It made me uneasy that we didn't have one in the house. It's for protection." He grabbed the gun and without hesitation he slipped the magazine out, checked the bullets and slid it back in, cocked it, and laid it back on the counter gently. Regina stared wide eyed at the man she no longer knew.

"Are we in danger or something?" She asked. She didn't see a need to have a weapon in the house. Storybrooke was a small town and had a very low crime rate. For Daniel to be worried about not being protected, something seemed definitely wrong.

"We are always in danger Regina." He walked up to her, and she felt the table behind her. He leaned in close causing her to lean back over the table. His eyes looked black compared to their usual pristine blue. He leaned over her and placed both hands on the table behind her, pinning her between the two. She heard his keys scratch across the table as he pulled them over to him.

Her skin rose at the rush of cold air over her still wet body when he turned quickly, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door.

"Wh… Where are you going?" She asked him from the kitchen.

"I got a meeting. I'll be back tonight." He shut the door before she could protest. She stood in shock in the kitchen staring at the gun Daniel had left lying on the wooden table. Looking up at the clock she realized she had spent too much time figuring and not enough time getting ready for work.

She had no idea what to think of Daniel. Last night he seemed fine with giving her some space, but this… this was way out of line. Maybe it was his way of coping with the distance between them. Regina was so unsure, but she knew that the thought of that gun lying on her dining room table added much more distance between her and Daniel. The Daniel she knew before would never have something like that in the house. He was always so good at leaving work at the base. Something was wrong. Something was always wrong.


	3. Henry

**Alrighty! Sorry for all these early formality chapters. I'm just sort of setting the mood! I promise more exciting chapters are to come shortly! Thanks for the few comments I've gotten. I appreciate you guys reading! And sorry if this one is a little short, i tried to add as much as I could but i didn't want to muddy it up. **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><span><strong>Henry<strong>

Emma heard the door echo through their apartment and the usual slump of a backpack on the floor as her son came in from his basketball practice.

"So, how was your first few days of school kid?" Emma came out of her room to see Henry slouched over the edge of the couch. She walked into the kitchen and began pulling out some food for dinner.

"Oh you know. Class was boring, coach is still crazy. Did you know he made us run a lap for every free throw we missed?" He sighed heavily, kicking out his dangling legs and beating them on the back of the couch

"So how many did you miss?" Emma asked.

"You don't want to know." He mumbled pulling himself from the couch and heading into the kitchen. "What's for dinner?" He peaked around Emma standing over the stove.

She bumped him away with her hips. "Go take a shower and then maybe I'll tell you." He sighed and headed for the bathroom. When Emma heard the water come on she pulled down the spaghetti from the cabinet and set a pot on the stove to bowl water. Pasta was her specialty, and tonight she was going to work her magic. The first couple days of school for both mother and son done and over with.

Fortunately she had managed to avoid Regina for the most part. Since their little spout on the first day, Emma was not particularly hopeful of running into her any time soon. After everything they had been through, it was hard to even be in the same room. Emma felt like she had been tossed away, and forgotten about. There was no closure. Yet the brunette still had power over her, which is the part Emma didn't understand.

The spaghetti turned out fabulous as always, and Emma was thoroughly pleased with her full stomach. She leaned back in her chair, patting her bulging midsection. Henry, still wet headed from his shower, shoveled in his last fork full of pasta.

"Do I make good spaghetti, or do I make good spaghetti?" She teased. Henry smiled up at her, red sauce staining his lips and chin. He sat back in his chair, imitating his mother and then let out an echoing belch.

"Really?" Emma's eyes widened. Henry laughed out loud, smiling in content.

"Thanks, Mom. It was delicious." Henry rose from the table taking his dishes to the sink.

"Alright kid. I know you probably have homework so why don't you go get it done. If I remember correctly, I get a rematch from yesterday's gaming session." She ruffled his hair after setting her dishes in the sink on top of his. Without a word he darted past her and around the corner into his room, enthusiastically ready to get through his homework so he could play video games. Emma laughed and set to work washing the dishes.

When she had placed the last fork into the dish washer, she made her way to the couch with a quite large glass of wine in her hand. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket to check for any messages. None. Of course, the life of a teacher. More accurately the "no life" of a teacher. Thankfully her class was mainly discussion and reading, so she brought little work home to grade on a daily basis. She clicked through her phone, suddenly having a strange urge to call Regina. Emma found her name in her contact list and her thumb hovered over her name for some time. She felt like she deserved at least a little explanation as to why she was just dropped cold turkey. After everything they had been through, she at least deserved an answer.

"All done!" Henry came prancing out of his room and rolled over the top of the couch, nearly knocking the glass of wine out of Emma's hand. She pushed him off the edge onto the floor and he laughed at the awkward position he landed in.

"Watch it, kid. You're getting too big to be jumping around. I'm not going to be able to keep up with you." Emma took a sip of wine and set in on the table next to her.

"Yeah well you already can't keep up with me at video games." Henry teased, turning on his Xbox.

"Oh is that so? Let's just see who's laughing after I kick your butt." Emma slid off the edge of the couch and took her usual video game position next to him on the floor.

They pushed each other back and forth on the floor trying to mess each other up.

"Oh, boom! Right in the face!" Henry shouted.

"No, no! I got you. You are so going down." Emma chimed back. She leaned over on top of him causing him to fall over. "Oh, I'm going to win, I'm going to win!"

"Quit it!" Henry laughed. He pushed back, but it was too late for the game.

'BOOM! I win!" Emma threw her hands above her head in victory. "See, I told you I would win." She nudged him with her elbow.

"Yeah whatever, I let you win." He smarted back turning off the gaming system. He stretched his arms above his head, yawning deeply. The motion was contagious as Emma yawned and pushed herself off the floor.

"Oh, I'm getting to old for this." She stood up and held her hand to her back, stooped over and pretending like she was walking like a grandma.

"Whatever mom. You aren't that old."

"Oh yeah? How would you know?" She said, pushing him towards his room. He did not argue with the direction.

"Because…" He started walking into his room and fell onto his bed. "You're still pretty." He smiled.

Emma sat down next to him on the edge of his bed as he climbed in and pushed his long hair from his face. "What are you trying to say? When I get old I won't be pretty?" She reached out and tickled him under the arm playfully and he started uncontrollably flailing.

"You will always be pretty mom." He said in all seriousness when Emma pulled back from her attack.

She felt her heart grow heavy, wondering how in the world she could have gotten so lucky to have Henry. She questioned why she even wanted anyone else in her life, knowing that Henry would fill any and all voids inside of her. He was the reason she even made it through school when he was a baby. Yeah it was tough juggling both being a single parent and studying for finals, but he kept her motivated. She knew he was counting on her, and making it through college was her responsibility to him. To be able to provide for him. She had managed to get out of the city, find a great place, and even though the apartment seemed small sometimes, other times it was just right for the both of them.

"Mom?" Henry sounded through the darkness of his room just before Emma shut his door,

"Yeah, kid?" Emma poked her head back into his room.

"I love you." His voice was so sweet, it was like honey.

"I love you too, Henry." She smiled into the darkness and then closed his door. She stood there for a moment, staring at the white painted door. There was no question she felt like they were doing all the right things. Henry was happy, she was happy with Henry. What else could she want?

But there was something else she wanted. One more thing to just put the cherry on top of this rollercoaster that was her life. She wanted someone she could love as much as she loved Henry. And someone Henry could rely on for things that she wasn't particularly good at, like math. In all seriousness though, she wanted what she thought she had just a few months ago.

She returned to her glass of wine, quickly downing what was left and headed to the kitchen for the bottle sitting on the counter. The red liquid fell into the glass like the blood rushing through her veins. Her breath skipped as she imagined herself pouring a second glass for her usual company. She had never really thought about how much of a routine she had gotten herself into before. She was comfortable, like everything was just going to plan and nothing could mess any of it up. Then, like someone had just ripped the carpet from under her feet, it was gone. Love just didn't seem like it was part of her destiny. It didn't work out with Henry's father so why would it work out with anyone else?

Getting ready for bed while she was tipsy proved to be somewhat of a challenge for Emma. She didn't get to experience the party side of college since she had to go home to Henry every night therefore her tolerance for alcohol had fallen through the floor since then. A glass of wine here, a beer there, usually only after Henry had gone to bed. The heaviness in her head proved difficult for balancing to put her shorts on. Nevertheless they were on soon enough for her to heavily fall into her bed. Like mother like son. She pulled the covers over her body, snuggling up to the warmth. Her dreams seemed to be the only place where her life played out perfectly. Love actually existed, and the person she wanted to love, was always there to love her back.

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><p>Emma's morning was not much better than going to bed. Her head felt heavy and she cursed herself for drinking that much on a school night. She was usually pretty good to control herself when she knew she had work in the morning. After she forced herself out of bed she searched through her closet for something to wear<p>

She could hear Henry shuffling around in his room and was thankful that she didn't have to go in there and wake him up. He was usually pretty good at getting up for the first few weeks of school, but usually around Thanksgiving his eagerness took a nose dive.

She stepped out of her room and knocked on his door sleepily. "Hey kid, you almost ready?"

"Yeah, Mom." She heard his voice muffled on the other side of the door.

"Leaving in 10." She shouted back as she walked into the kitchen. She could already smell the coffee wafting through the kitchen and loved the fact that she didn't have to worry about making it in the morning because of the timer. Those things came in handy on these types of mornings.

As she closed the lid to her thermos, Henry stepped into the kitchen and headed straight for the fridge.

"Sorry I didn't have any breakfast for you." Emma apologized, walking over and kissing his forehead.

"It's okay. I'm not all that hungry anyway." He shrugged taking a swig from the orange juice straight from the jug.

"Really? Get a glass!" Emma pulled one out of the cabinet and set it on the table.

"I'm good." He wiped his face with his mouth and stuck the jug of juice back in the fridge. Emma watched him as he shuffled through the cabinets and pulled out a few snacks for the day.

"You need some money for lunch?" Emma started, heading out to the living room to get her wallet out of her purse. Henry shuffled after her, shoving the handful of snacks in his backpack.

"No, I'm fine." He answered.

"How are you going to eat?" Emma asked curiously, continuing to dig through her bag.

"Coach is buying the team pizza today." He said nonchalantly.

"That doesn't sound like a very balanced diet." Emma joked finally giving up on her wallet and picking up all her bags, huffing them over her shoulder.

"Yeah well don't tell Coach that." Henry thinly smiled as he walked out into the hallway outside of their apartment.

The drive to school was quiet as usual. Emma was lost in thoughts about everything she needed to do today. It was only the middle of the week and she already felt busier than last year, and with her principal problems on top of that, it wasn't turning into a very good mixture.

"Mom?" She heard Henry's voice penetrate her thoughts.

"Yeah?" She blinked and looked over to him. She realized she had been staring out of the windshield and hadn't noticed they had pulled up to the middle school and Henry had already gotten out of the car.

"You okay?" He looked at her funny.

"Yeah, sorry. Just got my mind on other things. Have a great day okay." She smiled as best she could as Henry shut the door.

"Okay. See you later, Mom." He called out behind him as he ran toward the school. Emma watched him run through the front doors, suddenly wondering what her childhood would have been like if she actually enjoyed school. She often wondered how she even became a teacher. Maybe it was to catch kids that were like her at their age. Lost, scared, and unloved. She wanted to make a difference and maybe be a model and show them that even though things may seem hard now, they would eventually work out.

The honk of a horn snapped Emma back into reality. "Alright, alright, I'm going." She spoke to herself and waved an apologetic hand. Her yellow bug lurched forward and she headed off to the high school. Even if she didn't feel completely ready for what today would hold, she felt confident enough that she could make it through, knowing that she would eventually get to go home to Henry who seemed to be her only constant light.


	4. One Month

**Things are about to get a little heated! Stay tuned.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><span><strong>One Month<strong>

The bell rang in Emma's ears, finally signaling the end of the first month of school. Her students were keeping up with their readings in class, and Henry was actually doing much better in school, and all around things where looking up. Besides all that, her birthday was next week and apparently, word is around the school that a few of the teachers are surprising her with a little birthday party. Despite her efforts to keep her birthday on the down low, it turns out nothing can be kept a secret in this school once you let it slip in front of Mary Margaret one time.

She ran through the last of her emails when she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She pulled it out and read Henry's name on her caller ID.

"Hey. Kid!" She answered enthusiastically. Henry always had a way perking her up.

"Hey, Mom. My friend invited me over for dinner at his house tonight. Can I go?" He sounded out of breath. He probably just got out of basketball practice. Emma frowned a little. Not that she had anything planned but she hated being at the house alone.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Go have fun. Just make sure you are home by 8."

"Thanks, Mom!" He hung up without saying goodbye. Emma stuck her phone back in her pocket when her classroom phone rang almost simultaneously.

"What is this? Call Emma hour?" She mumbled to herself picking the phone from the receiver. "Hello?"

"Ms. Swan, I need to speak with you. Please meet me in my office as soon as possible." Regina stated promptly. Emma was taken aback by the sound of her voice over the phone. Something she hadn't heard since their late night talks before everything went south. She paused, taking in the moment, probably a little longer than she should have because Regina noticed.

"Ms. Swan? Did you hear me?" Her irritation was rising.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll uh, be there in a minute." She stammered.

"Thank you." The phone clicked on the other end. Emma stared at the phone as she slowly set it back on the receiver. She had no idea what Regina could want with her. They haven't spoken since the first day of school a month ago. In fact, Emma hadn't even seen her since that day. If they were any kind of good at being together, they were even better at avoiding each other. She took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts and preparing herself for what Regina would have to say to her that deserved a personal phone call.

When Emma stepped into the front office, Ruby was already gone. She usually left as soon as the final bell rang on Friday's because she worked down at a local bar on the weekends. From secretary to bartender in a matter of hours was something only Ruby could pull off. Emma could hear voices down the hall, growing closer to her. When she reached the door she was relived to find only Mary Margaret and the school nurse, Ms. Blue, heading out for the weekend.

"Hey Emma!" Mary Margaret caught her. "I figured you would be gone already." She asked a little concerned.

"Henry called and said he was having dinner at a friend's, so I didn't rush out." Her eyes darted behind the two women toward Regina's office. The door was shut, but she could see the light on.

"Okay. Well if you're free later, Mrs. Blue and I are going to dinner. You should join us." Mary Margaret said enthusiastically.

Emma's attention was stuck on the closed door of Regina's office. "Uhm, yeah. I'll call you." She forced a thin smile and pushed past the two women, her curiosity growing for what was behind that door. The women went about their conversation, quickly exiting the office, leaving Emma to herself in the empty hallway.

She stopped just short of knocking on the door, her hand inches from contact. She second guessed it and dropped her hand. The feelings of the first day of school flooded back to her. This time she would have to control herself and not let herself be triggered by either Regina or anything she has to say. This situation was delicate and she couldn't risk losing an opportunity to possibly get past things with Regina.

She bucked up and knocked on the door. It wasn't long before she heard the clicking heels calling from behind the door.

"Ms. Swan, please come in." Regina had a thin smile on her face. Emma was a little hesitant but proceeded inside, and Regina shut the door behind her. Emma turned to her, wondering why she had shut the door, seeing as they were almost the only two left in the building and what could she possibly have to say that was so private. At this point, privacy was a luxury that was unfortunately not in their vocabulary anymore.

"Is everything okay?" Emma worked up the nerves to speak as she watched Regina slowly click over to her.

"I have been waiting for you." Regina stated plainly. Emma eye's widened at the woman's words.

"What?" Emma managed, but just barely.

"You heard me." The advance was anything but normal as Emma stepped back at the movement toward her. She was lost for what was happening right now. The woman continued her advance despite Emma's backing away. There was only so far Emma could go before she felt the book case behind her back. She hit it awkwardly, knocking the picture of Regina and Daniel off onto the floor.

"Oh, shit. Let me get that." Emma started to leaned down to pick it up.

"Leave it." Regina almost shouted at her. The distance between them was now miniscule and Emma could feel Regina's warm breath on her cheeks. It smelled like peppermint.

"What are you doing?" Emma whispered, her stomach turning in knots. It was suddenly very warm inside the office, the temperature rising by the second.

"This is what you want isn't it?" Regina cocked her head to the side. Her hand reached up to Emma's face but it didn't quite touch it. Her cheek burned at the tease of Regina's fingers. Emma shut her eyes tightly, as her body wrenched and yearned for the distance between them to close.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Emma spoke, her eyes squeezing tightly. Maybe if she didn't look, she wouldn't touch.

"Ms. Swan." She heard Regina say her name, but this time it was more of like an echo rather than like she was standing an inch from her.

She opened her eyes, and Regina was gone. The air lightened around her, and she gasped like she had been holding her breath. She was still in her office but she was alone.

"Ms. Swan." There it was again. She closed her eyes again attempting to rub whatever this was away. Her body was so tense, she felt like she would explode any second. She hadn't been within reaching distance to Regina in months and then in an instant they were inches apart. Her skin crawled with the sensation of the dark eyed woman so close to her, teasing her with the thought of pleasure.

"Ms. Swan!"

"WHAT?" She screamed opening her eyes. Terror shot through her spine at the sight of Principal Mills standing in the doorway of her office. Emma's hand still in a position to knock on the no longer closed door. A single bead of sweat rolled down her temple. Her mouth opened but nothing came out. It followed shapes of words but the sound was inaudible.

"Ms. Swan are you ill?" Regina eyed the blonde puzzlingly crossing her arms obviously uncomfortable with the strange behavior of her colleague.

Emma caught her breath and straightened up, pulling on her leather jacket nervously.

"Y… yes. Um. No. I need to go. Um Henry..." Before Regina could manage a refute Emma turned on her heels and practically sprinted out of the hallway. She came to the realization in that few minutes that she would never be able to be around that woman without everything falling to pieces. Everything she buried inside her every morning before going to work was suddenly sucked out by the presence of the brunette. That's why she had to stay away from her. She couldn't even stand out in front of her office door without having a vision of them together.

Her car windshield had little answers for her, but she stared at it and shouted at it all the same. She was sure she had about five missed calls from Principal Mills feeling her phone vibrating in her back pocket but she didn't have the patience nor the strength to answer them. This situation was bad, and the harder she pulled herself away, the harder she fell back into it. She wasn't like Regina. She couldn't just fall back on a long lost husband and abandon everything and still be okay. She had nothing to fall back on. Henry was there, but he was always there. He wasn't exactly the ideal person to spill her ever growing feelings for another woman too. And she was sure he appreciated not being that person. She had no one else.

Her body fell to the floor as soon as she closed her apartment door. She was suddenly glad Henry was not going to be home for a couple of hours. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and in her frustration she pulled it out. Four missed calls and one voicemail from Regina. She didn't even want to hear her voice right now, but she did just run away from her office in quite a frenzy after screaming at her for no reason. So she clicked her voicemail and listened.

"Ms. Swan, I don't know what you are playing at but I expect you to be in my office first thing Monday morning. I hope by then you are over whatever it is you are suffering from. We have much to talk about." The message clicked. Emma was fuming. She didn't know why, but her anger raged inside of her at the thought of Regina talking to her that way. Like something was wrong with _her_.

"AAAH!" She launched her phone across the room, shattering it on the back wall. "Damn it." She yelled, muffled by her hands. Why did Regina have to be such a prick? All Emma ever did was care for her, and then she was just tossed away like a dirty rag, and now the woman had the nerve to tell her that she's the one with the problem? Emma was so glad it was Friday, only because she could calm down before seeing Regina on Monday.

She pulled herself up and headed into the kitchen. She needed something to drink… now. She pulled down a bottle and a glass, then stuck the glass back in the cabinet and decided there was no time for delicacies. She popped open the bottle and took a swig. She stood in the opening of the kitchen and looked around the room. Her phone was shattered in the corner but she really didn't care. She heard the couch call her name and she couldn't resist. She plopped down and took another swig. She never took herself for an alcoholic, but desperate times call for alcohol. She took a third swig, this time taking a couple gulps before setting the bottle down on the floor next to the couch.

Above the T.V hung a picture of Henry and herself from last summer. Regina had often took herself for an amateur photographer and this particular one was one of her handiwork. Emma often stared at it late at night, imagining the beautiful woman behind the picture. She remembered that particular day Henry wanted to take a mini vacation to the city. Emma thought it was a great idea, and Regina had only been to the city a few times so they packed up Emma's yellow bug and headed out.

They found a nice hotel a little ways out of the city and then spent most of the week exploring places where Emma had grown up. Henry made them stop at a little park that Emma said she used to play at when she was a kid. He practically pulled them out of the car when they got there, and raced over to the swings. Emma pushed him for a while and Regina took a few shots of them playing. Emma had insisted the brunette take photos with Henry but she felt more comfortable behind than camera than in front.

Emma took one last swig of the bottle, washing away the memory. She remembered she was pissed. But not pissed enough to keep her from passing out on the couch.

A heavy knock on her front door jolted Emma off the couch.

"Who is it?" She called out, getting up slowly to look through the peep hole. Her head throbbed from the alcohol. When she opened the door, a very tall, dark haired and scruffy man stood in her vision. He was rocking back on his heels with a handsome smirk stretched on his face. Her eyes lit up at the sight of him. She knew who he was.

"August!" She let go of the door and lunged into the man's arms.

The man was taking off guard by her body but caught her, holding her tight.

"Hey, sis!" He hugged her tighter, then set her down in front of him. "God, you look terrible." He joked, taking her head in his hands and kissing her forehead. "And you smell like you've had one too many drinks."

"Yeah well you look great yourself. Look at you!" Emma hadn't seen her brother since she graduated college, but she talked to him on the phone every once in a while. He had moved up to New York for work when she was still in school and surprised her at her graduation by coming to stay for a few days. She was grateful for him being around, helping her sort out what her next move was going to be. It always seemed like he showed up at just the right moment in her life.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked, looping her arm through his and escorting him inside.

"Just dropping in to see how my little sister was doing. Is that a crime?" He nudged her.

"Of course not. I'm so glad you're here!" She truly was glad he was here. She needed something to get her mind off of things. They walked over to the couch and sat down. Emma scooted closer to him curiously. "So what have you been up too?" He was looking terribly good. She always thought he was incredibly handsome and still to this day puzzled at the fact that he was not married.

"Well, work has been good in New York. Since the last time I talked to you, I've gotten nearly 10 new clients."

"Oh. Big, popular detective are we now?" Emma teased him. For as long as August was her brother, she knew he wanted to be a private detective. "I do hope you are good at your job. Otherwise there would be some very unhappy people around in your life."

"You just can't go a minute without tearing me down. You're lucky that's what I love about you. Anyways, besides all that, how are you doing?" August turned to face her more, his shirt tightening around his muscles and Emma noticed.

"Oh you know same old. Henry has been doing well at basketball, and thankfully it seems he's made a few friends this year. As you can see he doesn't even come home to eat dinner with me anymore. Would you like some coffee?" Emma pushed herself off the couch and headed for the kitchen without letting him answer. She knew he didn't drink coffee, but the look on his face as she spoke made her strangely uncomfortable.

She put a pot on for the coffee, and then grabbed a couple cups from the cabinet. August walked into the kitchen examining the pile of dirty dishes in the sink and an overflowing trashcan.

"I didn't ask about Henry." He stated quietly, swiping some crumbs off onto the floor.

"What?" She went about gathering sugar and cream for the coffee. She really didn't hear his question, but probably because she didn't want to hear it. The last thing she wanted was more attention on herself after today. Why was he so curious anyway?

"I asked how _you _were doing. Not Henry. I mean I love Henry as much as the next guy, but I talked to him last night. I know how he's doing. You, on the other hand I have not heard from in a few weeks." He eyed her curiously, watching her movements slow as her wall came crumbling down.

"Did Henry ask you to come or something?" Her eyes darted to him, but she didn't fully turn.

"As a matter of fact, no, he did not." This caused Emma to turn. A sudden flush of anger flicked in her eyes.

"You know, something tells me you weren't just in the neighborhood. Someone told you to come. Why are you so curious about me all of the sudden?" She advanced on him, her emotions growing quickly unstable. August had never done anything like this before. He was usually so innocent, but he had motive for this visit and she was going to figure out what it was he was playing at.

"Isn't that what brothers do? I'm just looking out for you. You seem… on edge a little. And… I'm not allowed to discuss who sent me." He admitted remaining in his position despite Emma's advance.

"Excuse me? I'm not one of your clients, who _sent_ you?" Her face grew red with each step she took toward August. He took a step back, unsure of what she was going to do.

"Emma, I have it on good authority that you needed me to be here. It's fine, no big deal. You needed some help and that's why I am here. It doesn't matter who sent me, it just matters that I'm here right?" His step back turned into a half step, knowing that if he moved away it would show her she had the advantage.

Emma's mind raced, her eyes moving around sporadically searching for the clue to who could have sent him. The only people she could think of who could be remotely worried about her were Henry and Ruby. She had never given his number to Ruby, and he just said Henry didn't tell him to come. Mary Margaret has been away too long to realize that something was wrong with her. The only other person who would have his number was…

"Regina?" Her voice was low and whispered, but it echoed through every part of her body. She looked up at him, their eyes meeting. She didn't know what she was feeling, she was so conflicted. She was hurt that he wouldn't just tell her, and the only reason he was here was because he was called. His silence confirmed her suspicions.

"I don't understand." She fell back onto a chair sitting at the island in the middle of her kitchen. He moved to the opposite side as her, still unsure of what she was going to do.

"For the record, she didn't ask me to come, she just told me to call you. I decided to come anyway. She sounded… desperate." He tried to explain, but Emma felt like if she took in any more information today her brain would explode.

"Desperate? When did she call you?"

He looked at her a little confused by her own confusion. "Uhm, about an hour ago." He twitched his head, studying her surprise at his answer.

"How did you even get here so fast?" The tears began to fall down her cheeks, but they were tears filled with all kinds of emotion. She couldn't even tell what she was feeling anymore. Sadness, hurt, anger, fear. It was all just a mush.

"Well as things would have it, I was already driving this direction. I had a meeting with someone in a town not far from here, and they insisted that I come and meet them. And you know me, I can't turn down my clients. It was like fate that she caught me just a few minutes out of town." He sounded quite pleased with himself for his timing ability. He had been holding back the question as long as he could, wondering if he really wanted to curb his curiosity by asking.

"Uhm, is there something I'm not understanding here?" He stepped toward the island, closing the distance between them. He quickly regretted the decision when she jumped up, knocking over the chair and slamming her hand down on the table.

"Emma…?" He came around the island to grab her but she was out of the kitchen before he could reach her. He followed her out of the kitchen and out of the door. She was faster than he expected her to be, and he rushed down the stairs after her. "Where are you going?" He shouted, busting through the door to the street. Her yellow bug flew by him in a streak of color.

Emma wiped her frenzied tears from her face. She smacked the steering wheel and floored the gas pedal.

"If she wants to know how I'm doing, she can ask me to my face." The words were like tar in her mouth. She checked her rear view mirror, knowing August would be on her tale as fast as he could. She knew he came only because he suspected something was wrong. Regina was probably right to call him. He was always so protective of her. Even after he left their foster home when he turned 18, he always told her he was just a phone call away if anything happened.

He would be on her trail probably before she reached her destination. She knew exactly where she was going. Even if they hadn't been together in a few months, Emma still knew exactly where Regina liked to go after she got off of work on Friday evenings.


	5. The Confrontation

**Ready for this!? I am! Starting to get some of those built up feelings out.**

**Sorry for any mistakes. I only had time to run through it once. Hope you guys enjoy! I'll get the next chapter up asap!**

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><p><span><strong>The Confrontation<strong>

Regina stood frozen and puzzled at her open door, watching the fritz of blonde hair run from her doorway. Her heart was still racing from Emma screaming at her. After waiting for some time for Emma to get to her office, Regina was growing impatient and decided to seek her out rather than calling her again. She was unpleasantly surprised to find her at her door, standing there like she had seen a ghost. And then to just run off like a lunatic?

"What was that all about?" Regina's other guest in the office stood up, supporting himself on his cane.

"It seems she had a family emergency." Regina made up an excuse as to hopefully soften the blow of the blonde's first impressions on her guest.

"Well I do hope everything is alright." His wormy grin pierced her skin, and she resented his presence more than she ever had. Mr. Gold had been after everything she had strived for since she started working in this town. So far he had gotten most everything, except for this principal job. She kept this job as a reminder to Gold that she was not someone who was just going to roll over because she didn't get what she wanted. It took more than money for Regina to get where she was and Gold wasn't going to stop her progress now.

"Perhaps we can postpone this meeting till Monday. I'll make sure she is here first thing Monday morning." Regina forced a casual smile in his direction.

"I suppose another weekend won't put us back too far." His cane clicked on the ground with his right foot as he made his way toward her now open office door. "Oh, and Regina?" He turned before heading out. She stopped her movement toward her desk and turned around, her smile now disappearing from her face. "Don't make me regret this decision." He smiled eerily.

"Good day, Mr. Gold." She said plainly without even an ounce of respect. He headed out of her office and finally out of her presence. She wasn't exactly thrilled that she would be seeing him again first thing Monday, but seeing as Emma was a mess, maybe it was the best thing.

Since the year started, Regina had been avoiding contact with Emma. She knew it took everything inside of her to do so, and she was growing rather tired of it all. Things at home were getting worse with Daniel. He still couldn't figure out what was wrong, and she still couldn't rack up the nerves to tell him that this was just not working out the way she planned. She wouldn't kid herself, she was absolutely beyond herself when she found out her MIA husband wasn't dead and was very much alive. The months after she found out that he was missing and there was little hope of finding him, she was absolutely distraught.

She grabbed her phone and tried to call Emma and figure out what was going on, but each call only ended in a voice mail. Finally she just left a message and threw her phone down on her desk in frustration. She felt terrible for what was happening between them. Neither of them wanted it so much as she could tell but there was just too much to decipher right now and Regina needed time to figure everything out. But unfortunately for Regina, time was something she was quickly running out of.

She grabbed her cell phone again and after finding the name she wanted, she clicked the screen. Her heart raced a little at the rings. The man on the other end answered.

"Hello?" His voice was familiar, but Regina hadn't heard it in a long time. Regina didn't really know what to say to him. She hadn't spoken to him since she went with Emma to a "family" Christmas two years ago. Too long.

She hung up.

"Shit." She hit the table. She stared at his name on her phone and took a deep breath. She clicked the screen again.

After one ring he answered again. "Hello?" He sounded more annoyed this time.

"August?"

"Yes, who is this?" She could hear a lot of wind in the background and a honking horn. He must be busy, probably driving somewhere.

"It's Regina." She finally admitted. She sucked in a breath, holding it in tightly. She wasn't sure if Emma had told him about everything that had happened. August hesitated on the line but then the name registered.

"Regina! It's good to hear from you. How are you?" He sounded enthusiastic enough. Maybe Emma hadn't told him yet. If that was the case then this was going to work out for the better. He didn't need to know about her and Emma, and when he did find out, she didn't want to be the one to tell him. She knew Emma would want to do that.

"I'm doing just fine, thank you August." Out of all the people she had ever met from Emma's past, he was definitely Regina's favorite. She liked knowing that he was always around in case something happened. Now was her time to call in her one emergency.

"That's great, how's Emma? I think she forgot how to use her phone because I haven't heard from her in a while."

"She's doing okay I think. I've kept her pretty busy at the school so I wouldn't blame her. But maybe you should give her a call and check in on her?" Regina tried to sound civilized talking to him. She didn't want to rouse too much suspicion or make him think something serious had happened. She just needed him to check in on her. Maybe Emma could explain better than herself.

"Is everything okay?" His voice became a little more serious. She kicked herself. She wasn't being very convincing.

"Yes, everything is fine. She has been talking about you lately and I just think she just needs you to call her." She controlled her breathing, trying not to sound to0 desperate.

"Yeah okay, I'll give her a shout." His voiced perked up. Maybe she was convincing enough.

"Thanks, August."

"Yeah, you're welcome. Take care of yourself Regina." He was probably one of the most genuine men she would ever met. Too bad he was off limits. Especially now.

"Thanks. You too August." She hung up the phone quickly, letting out the breath she had been holding. This whole situation was so above her. If this was anything else, she would be able to keep her poise and composure. But this was Emma. This wasn't just any other situation. This was the most delicate situation she had ever encountered and with Daniel in the mix, it was even more complicated.

She needed to go clear her head, like she did every Friday after she left the school. Daniel had started getting suspicious about why she was getting home so late and even asked her outright one day if she was seeing another man. She said no, obviously. But she was sure he didn't believe her. He had started drinking not long after he had gotten back from the war. She hated when he drank. He had stopped sleeping in the same bed as her on most days, and he was always angry.

After finishing up a few paperwork ins and outs, she heaved her purse over her shoulder and headed out of the school. Her car was one of only two still left in the parking lot which was kind of surprising since she was usually the last one to leave at the end of the week. But she didn't really care. She was distracted by the tasks at hand. This should have been fixed months ago, and instead she had let it boil over to this. If she waited any longer, she didn't think she would have the strength to keep fighting.

She drove towards the other side of town like she did always did. The docks were always so quiet and she loved the sound of the water hitting the edge of the rocks and splashing up. When she was a child, her father used to take her out on the bay and teach her how to sail. Since then, she had always wanted to have her own boat that she could take out on her own and just sail the waters like before. However, being a principal doesn't really supply her with the funds to do such a thing. She had never even told Daniel about her dreams of sailing, knowing he would never want her to do something so dangerous… so says the military man.

Actually come to think of it, the only person she had ever told was…

"REGINA!" From her spot edge of the dock she immediately turned around at the sound of her name and searching for the source of the shriek her eyes widened at the blonde fuming in her direction.

"Emma?" Regina kept her position making Emma come to her. She had no idea what this was about and she didn't want to rush into it either.

The blonde came within inches of her face and stopped. Regina's heart pounded so hard she could feel it all through her body, but it was masked by the sight of the tears that streaked Emma's face, her green eyes were almost red from the anger, and the smell of alcohol seeping from her. The two women stood there a moment, neither one wanting this conversation to start but knew it needed to happen.

"How dare you." Emma spoke just above a whisper to make sure Regina was the only one that could hear her.

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about." Regina took a step back from Emma, but Emma quickly closed the distance again. There was a small hint of fear growing inside Regina. She had no idea what the blondes intentions were, but from the look on her face, it couldn't be good.

"Bullshit. You called him. Why?" Emma was short. Regina had never seen her like this before.

"Called who?" Regina didn't know why she was playing dumb, but she was hoping that Emma would calm down a little before she said too much.

"August! You called August!" Emma was shouting now, raising her arms up in the air in protest. Regina decided to retaliate.

"Yeah I called him! What of it?" Regina shouted closing the very small distance between the two of them.

"Why?" Emma voiced through clenched teeth. Regina looked dead into her eyes wanting to say so many things but stopped herself. Nothing she could say could make this situation any better.

"Because I was worried." Regina was surprised by her own words. For the first time, she let herself say what she really wanted to say instead of what she was supposed to say. She watched as Emma's face went from anger to shock, and she felt their bodies separate a little.

"What?" Emma stepped back, quite stunned by the brunettes answer and it softened her voice.

This was it. If Regina was going to get anything off her chest about their relationship, this was going to be the time to do it. It was too late for sorry's and it was too late for bullshit excuses and avoiding each other. This was going to end.

"You heard me. I've been worried about you for months. Over the summer, I never heard a word from you, and I never saw you. Daniel has been so overwhelming about trying to get us back to the way things were. I didn't know what to say. What was I supposed to say? My dead husband just showed up out of the blue from war. What kind of shit like that happens to a person? I can't live like this anymore. I can't even sleep with my husband without thinking of you." The tears were already flowing and there was no stopping them. Her voice dropped. "Do you know how hard it is, to go day after day, home to a man you don't love anymore? That's what my life has turned into. You… you were there and then you were gone. What was I supposed to do?"

Emma stood in front of the crying woman in utter disbelief. Her body felt numb as she absorbed the hurt and the anger and the suppressed feelings coming at her from Regina. All along she thought she was the only one whose life seemed to be falling apart. Little did she know Regina just knew how to put on a good face better than she did. She didn't know whether to turn and walk away or swoop the woman up in her arms or throw herself off the dock. Suddenly she realized she was not the only one to blame for this and she wasn't going to stand there and just take it like she always did.

"I didn't know what to do either. You just dropped off the face of the earth when Daniel got back. Both of you, like you went back to playing house and forgot about me. I don't think you understand how hard it was to go home and explain to my son why you stopped coming around. But you know it's fine. I should have expected it, right? I mean his father left. Everyone that comes into my life just leaves, in the blink of an eye, just, gone. And I really thought you were different. I did. I played along like the happy little sidekick until it was time for you to throw me away." She found a small chuckle in the midst of her tears. She wiped her nose and a thin angry smile stretched across her face. "You were good. Very convincing. But I just turned out to be another one of your little toys."

"God, Emma you just don't get it do you." The brunette, through tears immediately responded and was now pacing the end of the dock. "You and Henry were _everything _to me. Do you not get that? I thought Daniel was dead. My husband… was dead. What the hell was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to tell him when he showed up on my doorstep at 2 in the morning? Was I supposed to tell him that I thought he was dead so I moved on and now that he's back I didn't want him anymore? What, Emma, please enlighten me on the situation because it's a whole lot more fucking complicated than you are making it seem." Regina could have bitten Emma's head off if she had the strength too, but her strength was busy trying to keep her from throwing herself off the dock into the bay. Her mind was cluttered with so many things, so many words, so many emotions that she didn't even feel like a real person but more like a robot. Things were turning but she couldn't feel anything. Someone could probably shoot her in the stomach and she wouldn't even feel it.

"Well you didn't have to just leave me for dry." Emma's voice was suddenly calm and cool. Regina envied her control. "You could have at least told me that we needed to take a break while you worked things out. I could have at least handled that. That would have given me something to hold onto but instead I've felt like I've just been grasping for some kind of ghost." Emma walked over to the side of the dock and looked down at the water. Her reflection was distorted by the waves, and she wondered if she jumped in if anyone would save her.

"Emma, I didn't know what to say. Please believe me. If I did, I would have. I figured you would understand." Regina hesitated in her direction.

"You give me way too much credit." Emma peaked a smile, actually quite welcome of the compliment.

"No. You were so much better than me. I was a coward. I ran. You… you tried to move on. I couldn't." Regina was lost for words she wished she had.

"You think I moved on? What do you think I'm doing out here Regina. This…" She motioned between them. "This is not moving on. I wanted you to come to me. I wanted you to give me something that I could live with. This… avoiding each other and putting on faces and shit wasn't… isn't working for me. I was hurt. And you know, maybe I did it to myself, hoping that you wouldn't go back to Daniel. I thought that this could still work. Maybe that was just my fault. But I just can't live like this, Regina, I really can't." Emma was almost pleading now. Pleading for Regina to take the pain away. Pleading for someone to explain to her why this was all happening.

Regina wiped a stray tear from her cheek as another one fell right behind it. "I can't either, but I can't just leave Daniel. He needs me."

Emma looked up at Regina, her eyes almost empty from the outpour of this evening. Emma choked back her urge to just walk away. But she had one more thing to say before she left her, possibly forever. "I loved you."

Regina's clenched hands dropped to her side, her body nearly going limp as the words hit her like a bullet to the brain. She took it back, she could still feel a bullet. She brought a hand up to her mouth covering it, as her body was about to lose it. She was hoping the small movement would distract her brain, but it was no use. She cried. Harder than she had ever cried in her life.

Emma stood there, her eyes immoveable from the brunette. Emma's tears had subsided and anything else that could have possibly been inside her was finally gone. Her energy, her strength, her feelings, just wiped away with three simple words. She awkwardly sat down on the wooden dock, right under where she was standing. She wrapped her arms around her knees and sat there. This was it. Everything from the past few years was out on the table, up for grabs for anyone who happened to stumble by. She felt like if the wind was strong enough, it could carry her to Antarctica, and she wouldn't even put up a fight.

"Emma!" She heard her name but she didn't recognize it.

"Emma?" There it was again. She deciphered that it was at least coming from a man. But who could be calling for her?

Suddenly a figure darkened her vision. She looked at it, but her eyes went right through it. She was dead to the world. Her body suddenly felt weightless and the warmth of the figure surrounded her. Was she dead? Was it bad to hope she was dead? She clung to the figure hoping it was taking her somewhere she wanted to be, which at the moment was anywhere but where she was.

"Emma?" Her body shook, but nothing was pulling her out of whatever she had fallen into. "Damn it."

The warmth was gone but it was replaced by a warmer air. A door closed in her face, and she realized she was in a car. At least that much she could still figure out. She could see the person who picked her up running in the opposite direction from her back toward the dock. She suddenly felt the need to sleep, and thank goodness whoever put her in the car had the right mind to put her in the backseat. She fell over into the seat, just to close her eyes for a few minutes. This was not how she wanted this to happen. She wanted to fix things, and somehow she felt like everything was worse. Maybe it was better not knowing how each other felt. Maybe it was better not knowing how she felt herself. Unfortunately, it was too late for that.

Emma woke up to a dark room, and under a single light on the opposite side of the room she could see the back of a muscular figure sitting at a desk. He was talking to someone on the phone in a soft tone and she couldn't make out everything he was saying from the spinning in her head. She pulled the bedspread off of her and tried to stand up. She wobbled a little but gained her balance and made her way over to the light.

"August?" The man almost jumped from his chair and apologized to the person he was talking to and Emma laughed a little.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Hamilton can I call you back tomorrow? Great. Thank you. You have a wonderful evening." He hung up the phone and stood up in front of Emma pushing passed her to turn on the light to the room.

"Shit, Emma! You need to warn a man before you scare him half to death." He tossed his phone onto his bed and turned back toward her. "How are you feeling?"

Emma rubbed her eyes as the light burned her temples. "Mm could be better I guess. Where are we?"

"I brought you back to my room at the Inn." He answered.

"Where's Henry? Is he home?" Emma suddenly became very nervous. She forgot about Henry, and she had no clue what time it was.

"Relax. I got it covered. I went to your apartment and left a note. I told him I took you out to dinner and we would be back in a couple of hours." He walked over to his desk and started picking up some of the paperwork spread across the wood.

"You left him home… alone! August!"

"Hey, hey. He's fine. If I know him, he'll be fine. Besides it's only 8:30. How much trouble could he get into? He's probably dying to see me anyway, he won't go anywhere." He grabbed her arms to call her down.

She held her hand to her forehead and sat down on his bed. "Shit. I'm a terrible mother. What was I thinking?"

He sat down next her. "You're not a terrible mother. But you are a terrible sister." He watched as she fell back onto the bed and closed her eyes.

"Gee, thanks." She mumbled.

"Seriously. You could have told me you were having problems with Regina. What am I here for if not for a human punching bag?" He leaned back on his elbow facing her.

"_Problems_ is putting it lightly. I think the shit just hit the fan." She admitted.

"So what happened anyway?" He asked hesitantly. She really didn't feel like explaining everything to him right now but she figured it might help to have an outside look on the situation. Maybe he could help her see something she is missing.

She sighed. "Well… basically, we were doing fine, and then her husband shows up and gets in the middle of everything. And she thought it would be okay to just stop talking to me and act like we were never even together."

"Wait… Her husband? The one who died? In Iraq?" August asked confused.

"Yeah." She covered her face from the light.

"Shit."

"Yeah. And we have been avoiding each other ever since. I'm just pissed that she didn't even talk to me about it. I mean anything would have at least softened the blow. But no. Just gone. And then she calls you to come to my rescue instead of just picking up the phone and calling me and asking me herself. It's like she has made it her life's work to ignore me." She fought the tears back.

"Maybe she just doesn't know what to say to you." He spoke up.

"It's not that hard. I just wanted to know what was going on. I mean… fuck… we were practically living together." She could feel her anger building up.

"Look, all I'm saying is that can't be easy on a person. She thought her husband was dead and she was moving on and then he shows up. I mean that's like trying to explain a double life to somebody. And take it from someone who knows about double lives, that shit isn't easy. It's not easy to live, and it sure as hell isn't easy to explain to a spouse."

Emma hated that August was probably right. I mean, she did have to deal with a lot when Daniel showed back up.

"I guess I just felt like I was just a filler while he was gone. And when he came back, it was like I never existed. Like I didn't matter anymore. Like she had used me and didn't need me anymore. I just wanted to feel like I mattered." She stared up at the ceiling, tracing the patterns in the spackle with her eyes.

"Just give her a second chance. You of all people should know, everyone deserves a second chance."

She looked over to him and met his genuine stare. As hard as she wanted to disagree she knew he was right. Maybe Regina did need a second chance. She had gotten many second chances in her life, and it was time for her to give one to someone else for a change.


	6. The Weekend

**What a way to start a weekend. Here's to a better finish for Emma. But maybe not Regina. :/ Things will start looking up soon.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span><strong>The Weekend<strong>

Emma woke up to the sound of running water. The soft blankets folded around her suggested a bed. Her bed. She pinpointed the sound coming from her bathroom and she figured August had gotten up early to take a shower. She felt so dirty. Her body, her mind, her heart, all of her needed to be thoroughly cleansed.

Her eyes were heavy as she forced them open, and she felt like she had only been asleep for five minutes. Unrested and dirty. Is this what her life had become?

"Rise and shine, sunshine." Emma picked her head up off the bed and saw August standing in only a towel in the doorway of her bedroom. The water from the shower traced down the muscles on his chest and dripped from his dark curly hair mopped on top of his head. She swore if he was not her brother, she would be all over him. He was most definitely the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

"God, how long have I been out?" She propped herself up on her elbows squinting at the sunshine breaking through her bedroom window. "I feel like shit."

"You slept through the night. You looked like you hadn't slept that good in months." He walked over to her closet where she had some of his clothes in case he decided to stay a few days when he visited. He grabbed a couple of things and headed out, but turned back to her before leaving.

"I'll change in Henry's room. Why don't you take a shower and get cleaned up. I'll get breakfast started." He smiled and winked at her before closing the door behind him.

She sighed and let her head fall back between her shoulders. She forced herself out of bed and sat on the edge for a minute collecting her thoughts. Yesterday was a blur. A big blob of blur that she was never going to be able to make sense of any time soon. Her throbbing temples proved that she was in way over her head.

She had never taken a more enjoyable shower in her life. The water seemed to wash away everything that she wanted to forget. Everything of the last few months, the last few years, pretty much everything she had experienced since she was a child bouncing around foster homes. Thank goodness her weekend had not been totally wasted away yet. She is going to quite enjoy spending the weekend with Henry and August. Something she hadn't gotten to do in some time, seeing as Henry was busy with basketball almost every weekend, and when he wasn't he slept through most of it. And August was here to protect her like always.

When she came out of her room she could hear the boys in the kitchen. Henry's room was empty and the TV was on in the living room playing some sort of weird cartoon that Henry liked to watch. She could smell pancakes and chocolate wafting from the kitchen and her mouth instantly started to water.

"Pancakes, my favorite!" She spoke as she inhaled the chocolate scent filling the room.

"Morning, Mom!" Henry pulled his head out of the fridge carrying a bottle of orange juice and a rather large bottle of syrup. His hair was damp from his morning shower and Emma noticed just how handsome he was becoming.

"Hey, kid! How are you this morning?" She ruffled his hair, and kissed his forehead. He wiped it off embarrassingly.

"I'm fine. You didn't tell me Uncle August was coming." He took a chug of orange juice straight from the jug and leaned up against the counter.

"Well it seems he didn't tell anyone he was coming." She teased, opening a cabinet and handing Henry a glass with a raised eyebrow.

"Mm.. Sorry." He avoided her eye contact.

"I like to make an entrance." He nudged Henry and winked at Emma. She felt a little pressure off her shoulders with him here. She finally didn't have to make her own breakfast and he was someone else for Henry to confide in. A male figure for him to look up too. She was just thankful that August was an amazing role model. Henry needed a man in his life to help show him the ropes about things. She did her best to paint a decent picture of his father for him, but there was only so much she could stomach to exaggerate. She completely trusted August with Henry. Anyone who had done as much for her as he did deserved all the respect in the world.

"How did you sleep?" August asked, probably just putting up appearances for Henry, knowing he was probably curious since he was already asleep by the time they got home.

"Pretty well actually. Better than I have in a while." She admitted.

"Yeah, Mom doesn't really sleep that much. She's always waking up in the middle of the night."

"How do you even know that?" She asked, a little stunned and a little curious.

"The walls are paper thin, Mom. I can hear you walking around." He added.

"And what may I ask are you doing awake at that time?" She crossed her arms looking down at him.

He bit his lip and shifted his eyes down to his hands realizing he had given away his late night spells.

"We'll talk about this later." She headed over to the coffee maker where August had so graciously made a pot and poured her a cup. "Hey, Henry, why don't you go watch some cartoons while I talk to Uncle August." She patted him on the back and watched him run out of the room. When she was sure he was out of earshot she turned to August who was pouring more pancake mix onto the skillet.

"Thank you." She said quietly, hoping that Henry's comment about the walls being paper thin didn't mean he could hear their conversation. He was probably too busy watching his cartoons though.

"You don't have to thank me." He admitted quietly.

"Yes I do. All of this, yesterday… If you weren't here, there would have been nobody to look after Henry. And I don't even know if I would have made it home last night." She crossed her arms over her stomach, a little self-conscious talking about this with him. But she was right. If she hadn't left that dock, Henry would have been alone all night, and she would have woken up salt covered from the misty morning.

"August, how do I get myself into these situations? Can't a girl just get a break for once?" Her voice was muffled towards the floor.

August laughed out loud and Emma looked up at him her eyebrows pushed together, and wondered what could have possibly been so funny about what she had said.

"I don't find that very funny." She said with a little attitude.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you." He shook his head.

She lifted an eyebrow and threw one of her kitchen towels at him. He quickly shielded his face and laughed.

"Here, pancakes are done." He slid a plate in front of her. She grabbed the syrup that had already been put out by Henry. He swears up and down that he will never eat a pancake if it isn't completely drowning in syrup.

"Henry, you better hurry before the pancakes are gone!" Emma shouted. She heard the rumble of feet toward the kitchen as Henry came sliding in.

He slid in through the door way on his socks almost falling over but caught himself on the bar. "Where is the syrup?"

They sat together at the dining room table and ate quietly. August cracked a couple jokes to keep Henry occupied and Emma laughed a little at a few that were actually kind of funny. For the most part, the meal was pretty civil. This was the first Saturday morning in a while that Emma could remember Henry not having a game or sleep over or anything else. Maybe they could do something fun today. Since August was here, she figured Henry would be more inclined to hang out with them, since it's totally not cool to hang out with just your mom on the weekends and still be considered part of the cool group at school.

"So what do you boys want to do today?" Emma leaned back in her chair, surprised that she was hungry enough to eat all of her pancakes. The boys copied her and Henry suddenly let out a huge belch.

"Henry!" Emma yelled out. August let one out of his own, which was about twice as loud as Henry's. "You are no help at all!" She took a swing for his arm but he moved out of the way quickly and she missed him.

"Sorry. You're just jealous that you can't burp like us _men_ can." He smiled at Henry.

"Yeah!" Henry agreed, sticking his tongue out at Emma.

"Oh no. You are not sucking me into this game. You may could fool me when we were kids, but not anymore." She stood up collecting their plates and headed into the kitchen.

After rinsing off the dishes and loading them in the dishwasher she returned to the living room. Henry and August had made themselves comfortable on the couch and were happily watching some cartoon about turtles. She walked over and stood in front of the TV, the two boys immediately reacting to the loss of vision.

"Moooom! Move I'm trying to watch the show!" His head ducked around her trying to find the screen.

"That was the best part!" August played along. Emma stood there eyeing them both. When they both accepted their defeat and sat back in a huff she proceeded.

"You didn't answer my question at the table. What are we going to do today? We have a whole free weekend and I think we deserve a much needed fun couple of days. So lets' hear some ideas." Emma stepped over to the coffee table and sat down in front of the two of them. They all thought for a moment, wondering what could be fun to do in little old Storybrooke.

Henry had the first idea. "Let's go camping!" he said excitedly, sitting up on the couch.

"That's actually not a bad idea." August agreed, looking at Emma for the final vote. She thought for a moment about it. She hadn't been camping in a while and she actually knew a great place that David told her about once that was great for camping and had a pond nearby for fishing.

"Camping it is!" She slapped her knees and rose up from the coffee table.

"Yes!" Henry held up his hand to August who instinctively finished the high five.

August followed Emma to her room. "This should be really fun!" He picked up his bags he had put in there the night before and tossed them on her unmade bed.

"I sure hope so." Emma chuckled turning into the bathroom. "We'll probably need to run by the store and get some fishing poles. There is a tent and a couple sleeping bags in my closet if you want to grab them. And if you can think of anything you want to eat tonight then we can grab that at the store too." She hollered behind the half closed bathroom door.

"You got it. Burger and hot dogs sound like a pretty good dinner."

"Burgers and Hot dogs!" Henry yelled from his room. Paper thin walls. Got it.

* * *

><p>When Regina returned home after her and Emma's argument at the dock, there was no hiding that she was upset. Daniel knew something was wrong the minute she stepped through the door and after weeks of her coming home late and him losing the energy to wait for her, he decided to confront the issue.<p>

"Regina, we need to talk." He commanded as she entered the house.

"Can this wait till tomorrow, I'm really not in the mood for anymore talking tonight." She walked by him, but was immediately pulled back by a heavy hand around her forearm. He had a firm grip on her, and she could smell the booze seeping from his pores. He had been drinking, and by the strength of the odor, drinking a lot.

"You're drunk. Let's just talk in the morning." She tried to pull away from him but his grip was too strong. "Daniel, let go of me." She pulled harder, but he was persistent. Red flags were flying all over the place. He had never acted like this before, and his eyes looked as if they were hazed over. It was like Daniel was gone and had been replaced by something else, something wrong. Her skin rose at the sudden worry about what he was planning on doing.

"We need to talk." He demanded again through his teeth.

"Not until you calm down." She finally ripped her arm free from his grasp. By the amount of pain in her arm, she was sure it was going to bruise tomorrow. She straightened out her shirt and headed upstairs toward the bedroom. She glanced into the living room to find it littered with bottles of beer. She hated that he drank. And she hated that he didn't even have the good sense to hide it from her.

When she reached her bedroom, he was hot on her heels.

"If you don't tell me what's going on, then…"

"Then what, Daniel?" She snapped around. "What are you going to do? Are you going to drink some more? Because that seems to be solving all of our problems." She watched as every muscles in his toned body tightened up, his fists curling into balls. Her mind told her to take a step back, just in case he went on a rage and she happened to be the target, but her pride kept her in place. His face turned a terrible shade of red, and she was sure he was going to spontaneously combust right there in front of her.

She knew he wouldn't hurt her, but in that moment she had some serious second thoughts. He was a trained killer and could probably snap her in two if he really tried. But she knew he wouldn't, and his slow color change back to normal allowed her to breathe a little better than she was.

They stared at each other for a moment, neither knowing what to say or what questions to ask.

"Do you want a divorce?" Daniel split the silence with the lightning bolt of a question. Regina's answer came quicker than they both anticipated.

"Yes." A single tear fell down her cheek as she stood her ground. His body went soft. She was sure he had hoped she would say no in hopes of trying to fix things. But she couldn't. There was nothing fixable about this situation. The healthiest thing for both of them was just to get away from each other as quickly as possible. The thing was, it's not that they didn't love each other anymore, because Regina was sure she could never stop loving him, but they just weren't the same people they were when they got married. They both had ghosts in the closet that were growing too big for the space they shared. The space that no longer seemed like a home but more like a prison, keeping them from anything good in the world.

Daniel did not say a word when he left the room. She heard him grab his keys and head out the door and his car pull away from the driveway. Her last bit of strength depleted entirely, her body fell to the floor in a heap of a crying mess. She never in her wildest dreams ever thought of herself as divorcing her husband. She was an army wife, and that's exactly what she had wanted to be before all of this. But this… this was not what she wanted. She did not want to watch her husband walk out of their own house, never knowing if she would ever see him again or if they would ever speak or if they would ever come to terms with what had happened between them. No. Honestly, she imagined herself on the water, in a boat, watching the sun set on the ocean's horizon. She could feel the waves rocking the boat and the cool salty air biting at her cheeks. That's what she imagined in that very moment, as she lay on the floor in the middle of her room, feeling like a complete stranger in her own house.

Before she knew it, she was falling into her own imagination. The place where, for so many nights, had given her solitude and peace. A place that she hoped one day she would never have to leave. A place where the things she wanted most were in reach and she felt complete. However now, there seemed to be something missing. Daniel was gone. She was alone. But no one is ever really alone, are they?

* * *

><p>"Seriously, August, hands down that might have been the best burgers I have ever eaten in my entire life." Emma licked her fingers as she chewed the last bite of her second burger and swallowed it. She needed this. It turned out to be a wonderfully cool night, with a nice breeze coming in from the east and the fire just big enough to knock off the chill but not be uncomfortably hot.<p>

"Yeah, you should have been a cook Uncle August." Henry chimed in expressing his contempt with the food.

"Maybe I was in another life." He joked, flipping another burger on the grill.

"Where did you learn to cook so well anyway?" Emma leaned back gazing up at the glowing face above the grill.

"Well, I happen to remember a little someone who couldn't cook for herself all those years ago." He shot a glance toward her. "So I did what I had to do." He finished. He sat down next to Henry by the fire, and leaned in real close like he was telling him a secret. Emma's eyes darted back and forth between both of them. Henry laughed at what August was keeping from her. She wanted to laugh, but was mildly curious at what he was saying.

"Care to share with the group?" Emma questioned them. August pulled back and the two boys looked at each other and then back at Emma, and then simultaneously answered.

"No." They shared another high five as Emma rolled her eyes in a huff.

"Look what you are doing to my son. Turning him against me." Emma protested. August shrugged, and she tried to be serious but her laugh was too strong. And for a moment, everything was good. Everything was right. Emma was happy, Henry was happy, and she had August. She felt like this was where she was supposed to be.

Henry let out a huge yawn and stretched his hands way up in the air.

"Looks like it's bed time for all of us I think." Emma rose and took his plate and August's to the trash. Thankfully August had put the tent up not long after they had gotten to the camp site so they didn't have to worry about trying to put it up in the middle of the night, which Emma had experienced before and preferred not to experience again.

"I got the fire if you'll get the bug lanterns from the truck." August got up from his seat in front of the fire and poured some left over water on the flames. Henry immediately pushed himself into the tent, passing out quickly while Emma and August finished up tying everything down. When they had finished, August headed to the tent to check on Henry and then came back out after making sure he was covered and he had a bug catcher near him.

"Looks like Henry is out for the count." He approached Emma where she was standing just outside the campsite. Emma wiped a stray tear from her face hoping August didn't notice, and if he did, he didn't act like it. They stood there for a moment in silence and darkness. The last of the coals glowed behind them and their shadows joined with the moonless night around them.

"Why haven't you had any kids yet?" Emma broke the silence. She heard August heave out a sigh and kick the dirt below them. She was curious why he never settled down with a wife and had a few kids. He was always so good around Henry and he was more than attractive enough to find a good girl. Maybe he was a little rough around the edges but he was probably the best man Emma had ever known.

"I never really had the opportunity I guess." He shoved his hands in his pockets and Emma could feel the tension between them grow.

"You had plenty of opportunities. What was her name… um… Stacy, Jessica, Julia, oh wait was it Mackenzie?" She teased.

He snickered a little. "No. There was only one girl in my life back then and she needed me more than them."

"August please don't tell me you never got married because you were too busy taking care of me. I am not worth all of that, trust me." Emma was trying to be sentimental, but she really did hope he wasn't throwing away his life because of her.

"You needed me whether you knew it or not. But that's not the only reason why I haven't settled down. I guess I don't want to be a screw up father, you know." He swayed back and forth on his feet, a little uneasy by the conversation.

"What?" Emma quietly shouted and glanced back at the tent, hoping her burst didn't disturb Henry. "Are you kidding me? Look at the way you are around Henry. He loves you to death. And I know you love him too." She was all seriousness now. How could he think he couldn't be a good father after the way he acts around Henry.

"Henry is different." August tried to push the thought away. "He's easy, because you are a good mother."

"That kid thinks you hung the moon, August. Me? I just put food on the table and make sure he makes it to basketball practice and he has presents under the tree at Christmas. He adores you." She was on the verge of tears. She didn't really know why, but she just hated that August felt he was a terrible person, and didn't think he was good enough to raise his own child.

August shook his head and shrugged.

"Seriously!" Emma continued. "I will be hearing about this weekend for a month. He's going to ask me every night when you are going to come back, and in a couple weeks he is going to be complaining that he misses you and that you cook better than I do, and that he is going to starve himself until you come back and make him more chocolate chip pancakes." That one made him laugh.

"What about you?" August asked quietly after their laughter was carried away.

"What_ about _me?" She asked puzzled.

"Would you miss me?"

"What kind of question is that?" She was a little put off by the question. Of course she would miss him, he was her brother, even if not by blood, and he took care of her better than anyone else in her life.

"It's just a question." He admitted softly.

"August you have protected me my whole life. Even when I may not have realized I needed your help, it didn't matter because you were there. We have been through things that no two people should ever have to go through. And because of you, I am here, with a wonderful kid and we have an opportunity to have lives. I have Henry, and now it's your turn to finally get what you want. You could never be a terrible father, August, and I can tell by the way you look at Henry that you want to steal him away in the night. You deserve to be happy." Emma spoke almost anxiously realizing she had wanted to say all this to him for a long time, but just never found the right time. This was definitely the right time. He needed to stop worrying about her and have a life, have a family.

"Well if I deserve a happy ending, so do you."

"Yeah that doesn't seem to be my forte. I'll stick with Henry." She didn't like the attention being turned toward her. This was her moment to help him, not the other way around like always.

"Not just Henry. You need someone else you can connect with and someone to love you more deeply than a child."

"Well if there is someone out there like that for me than I must be doing something wrong. Seems like everywhere I look I come up with a dead end." She admitted. That truth was hard for her to swallow though. After Henry's father, all of her relationship possibilities had gone from great to terrible almost as quickly as she could move on. This last one putting the cherry on top of a wonderfully disgusting stretch of relationship. It was a good relationship while it lasted. Better than Emma ever could have imagined or experienced, but thinking about the last few months, she felt like she had been through hell and back. Before all of this it was some of the happiest times Emma had had since college.

"I think you have already found it. You just need to learn how to fight for it." At that, August left Emma's side and headed toward the tent.

"What? You can't leave me with that advice! What am I supposed… ugh!" She kicked the dirt and placed her hands on her hips dramatically, cursing the night sky as she tried to make sense of this. It was obvious who he was talking about, but fighting for her seemed like old news by now. She was too late for fighting. After yesterday at the dock, there was no way in hell Regina would want to even give her a chance. Emma pretty much proved to herself and Regina that she was bat shit crazy.

Maybe she was overanalyzing their situation. She had never really thought about how Regina felt about it all. I mean after all that time thinking your husband was dead, only to find out after you had moved on that he was still alive? She had never considered what that could do to a person. Maybe she was being selfish. But she had the right for at least an explanation, and a civil conversation about how to continue with their relationship, which she got neither of. She just felt used, and she was tired of feeling used.

She sighed and took a quick sweep of the sky hoping there would be some answer among the stars. She figured Monday was coming up faster than she liked and now was not the time to fret over anything but having a great time with August and Henry. Tomorrow was a new day with people she loved with all her heart, and she wasn't going to waste it on worrying about the week. Tomorrow had to be a great day.


	7. Monday Morning

**Moving right alone, yes we are! Thank you for those of you who have commented! I'm so glad you like it. I apologize if I haven't thanked you personally! But just know I appreciate your support! Alright... let's see how civilized our ladies can be after Friday's incident shall we! :)**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><span><strong>Monday Morning<strong>

Regina woke up to a cold empty bed, and the silence of the house around her was almost overwhelming. Daniel's side of the bed had gone untouched through the night which meant either he slept on the couch or he never came home. No matter the case, the silence in the house made it clear that she was currently the only one in the house.

Her body felt heavy, and drug behind her as she tried to pull herself out of bed. If there was ever a day where she just wanted to lay there forever it was today, but she thought that might just make her feel worse and she really didn't want to be home if Daniel decided to show back up. His stuff was still in the bathroom and she checked the drawers and closet and found they were still full of his clothes. She knew he would have to come back at some point.

Her morning routine was slow, like she was wading through mud just to get anywhere or do anything. She probably stared at her closet for 20 minutes before pulling anything out to wear for the day. The coffee maker sounded like a leaf blower in her head and she burned her mouth on the first sip of the hot liquid. And to top off the wonderful morning, her car didn't feel like starting either.

"Only me." She sighed leaning her head over on her steering wheel. She didn't know how long she sat in her car, but she really didn't care. This day was not at all going like she planned and she didn't care at this point how it was going to continue. It wasn't even 7 in the morning and everything that could possibly go wrong was going wrong, and then some.

She nearly came out of her seat when she heard a tapping on her driver window. She squinted at the figure blocking the sunrise and then tensed up a little as she recognized him. She opened her door and greeted the man outside of her car.

"August, funny seeing you here." She stood awkwardly in front of him, her arms crossed in front of her for her own emotional protection.

"I was taking my morning jog and I saw you sitting in your car. I figured I would make sure you were alright."

"I'm fine." She shorted off, brushing a stray brunette strand from her face. She avoided his eye contact focusing down at the ground at their feet.

"Are you sure?" He raised an eyebrow noticing the tension rising between them. He could tell she looked like she was having a rough morning. She looked beautiful, there was no doubt, but there was something about her that was wrong. Like her normal glowing color had greyed out.

She sighed, her patience growing thin with the man in front of her.

"Why do you care?" She blurted out.

He flinched at her sudden harshness and took a step back from her hoping to give her some space.

"Well since this is my third time by your house and you still haven't left your driveway, I figured you might need some help." August snapped back, hoping to regain some of his pride.

"If you must know, my car won't start." She sighed motioning toward the car.

"I could take a look for you if you'd like?" His smile was contagious and Regina couldn't help herself.

"If you must." She hoped to keep her upper hand in the situation and she really didn't want to be around August any more than she had too. It wasn't him, just what he reminded her of.

She popped the hood and he pulled it up, the metal creaking under the stress.

"Whew. No wonder it's not starting. When's the last time you got this thing looked at?" He fidgeted with a few coils, loosening them up from the coating of grease and battery acid covering them.

"Well, Daniel…" She hesitated at the sound of his name. "Daniel was usually the one to do all of that. He was… is the handyman." She found herself stumbling over her words. Thankfully he didn't notice.

"Alright try it now."

She sat down in her car and after a few tough rounds it started right up. Relief swept over her as August slammed the hood back down. She watched him as he wiped his greasy hands on his sweater and she felt bad that she had put him through so much trouble. If she didn't know any better she would have thought he looked extremely handsome in his workout outfit and grease stains. But she did know better.

"Here." She reached for her purse as she exited the car. "I should pay your for your trouble."

"Absolutely not. No. I wouldn't think of it. I honestly didn't do that much. Just wiggled some wires and got a little dirty. Hardly worth that kind of payment. Just look at it as a nice gesture for a friend." His smile stretched across his face and his teeth where a beautiful clean white color, like they hadn't been touched by anything terrible. Maybe she didn't know better. If she could have had a do over in her life she would have no doubt chased after him the moment she met him. But as things turn out, her life was not meant to be that perfect.

"Thank you, August. I don't know where I would be without you this morning. Seems like it just hasn't been a good one for me." She admitted pulling her purse over her shoulder.

"I understand. It happens. I better get going, Henry is going to need someone to cook him breakfast. Emma had to go to work early this morning, something about a meeting."

"The meeting!" Regina completely forgot she was supposed to be meeting with Emma and Mr. Gold this morning to discuss the tutoring project. "I'm sorry, I'm running late. Thank you again!" She shoved her purse and herself in her car and sped off down her driveway. She gave a small wave to August before heading off down the street.

As if this morning, really this weekend, wasn't enough stress on her, she was going to have to sit with the two people she thought were single handedly trying to ruin her life. One on purpose and one possibly unknowingly causing her life to spiral out of control. No matter the circumstance, she knew this morning was going to get worse before it got better.

* * *

><p>Emma's leg impatiently shook and she was sure she had bit all of her fingernails down to the quick. She was already not looking forward to this morning's meeting but now she was stuck waiting in the front office with none other than Mr. Gold, while Regina was apparently running very late for work. Of all the days Regina was never late for work, she had to pick this day to change up her rock solid schedule.<p>

"Can I get you two anything?" Ruby stood up from her desk, obviously overwhelmed by the tension in the room. She slowly made her way out of the office, giving the two time to answer. Mr. Gold pleasantly ignored the question and Emma widened her eyes at the secretary as a warning, hoping to pull her back in. The last thing she wanted was to be left in this room alone with Mr. Gold. Ruby gave her an apologetic smile and then hurried out of the room.

"It seems there is a punctuality problem at this school. Wouldn't you agree Ms. Swan?" His voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard in her ears and she could feel him breathing down her neck from the other side of the room.

"This honestly never happens. Regina is usually the first one at school every morning. Maybe I should give her a call." Emma offered.

"Yes, maybe you should." He turned away from her and stood looking out the window into the parking lot. Emma grabbed for her phone in her back pocket only to find a sinking feeling in her chest and no phone. She sighed heavily remembering her idea to launch her phone across the room when she got home Friday, and she had been so busy over the weekend that she hadn't gone out and gotten a new one. She made her way to Ruby's desk and picked up her phone, but before she could dial Regina's number, the brunette came flying through the front door.

"Mr. Gold, I'm so sorry, I've had a… a quite eventful morning. Please, come back to my office so we can talk." Regina looked completely flustered, which was a side Emma had never really seen of her. Regina was always so put together and Emma had only seen her a mess like this when she had first met her all those years ago. She kept quiet through the ordeal in the front office and followed close behind Mr. Gold to Regina's office. Emma was a little worried about her, knowing this was not like her at all. But she quickly pushed the wondering thoughts away, remembering what had just happened between the two of them only a few short days ago.

"So glad you could join us Mrs. Mills." Mr. Gold was definitely in a mood today. First the initial meeting on Friday was cancelled because of Emma, and now this morning was put on a very long delay because of Regina. Whatever this meeting was about, Emma figured that Mr. Gold was probably going to start plotting the death of both of their careers.

"I had some car trouble this morning. But I'm here now, so let's get on with this meeting." Emma could tell she was lying. If Emma was ever good at anything, it was knowing when people were lying. There was something going on with Regina and she wanted to know about it. She hated that part of herself. No matter how Regina treated her, she always just wanted to know everything about her. She wanted to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling. Maybe that's why this whole separation thing has taken such a toll on her. If she wasn't around Regina then she couldn't know those things and it unknowingly drove her crazy.

"Glad we could accommodate your schedules. Now to make this meeting as short as possible, I'll get on with it. I'd like to announce that the two of you have been selected to be the testers for my new tutoring project. Hope you like working together, because you will be working very, very… closely together." Mr. Gold clicked his cane on the tile floor, as if to drive the nail all the way through the heart of their whole world.

Emma could feel the air in the room being sucked out faster than she could breath. She was suffocating. She was literally suffocating. She didn't dare look over toward Regina because she would probably spontaneously combust. The room was still for a few seconds, not a rustling paper or a clicking heel. Emma stared at the floor which blurred in her vision. When Regina stood up from her desk it startled Emma a bit, not really knowing how to take the information.

"Mr. Gold." Regina choked at her own voice. "Um…" She started but had lost the words. She nervously straightened out her pants suit. She forced a smile which he did not reciprocate. Emma couldn't take it anymore.

"Mr. Gold." Emma straightened up and earned herself an angry look from Regina who didn't like to be interrupted. But Emma didn't think Regina was going to be able to say what she really wanted to say without being fired.

"That's my name, dearie." He turned his attention to Emma. She rubbed her hands together and made her way over to the two of them.

"It seems that, maybe, we are not your best choice for this project. I mean we will be starting our standardize testing soon, and as I'm sure you know, and we aren't the most punctual people in the world. I bet we could find you a couple of teachers who just love tutoring and would whole heartedly be excited to work on this project." Emma personally felt like that was the worst excuse she had ever come up with, but she was a terrible liar, and she did not work well under pressure.

"Um, I think what Ms. Swan is trying to say is…" Regina interrupted her, hoping to keep this meeting and her day from completely falling apart. "If you would like, we could sit down with a few of our teachers and maybe we could work something out and find a teacher who may not be as busy as Ms. Swan."

The two women stood uncomfortably close to one another. Emma could feel the hair rising on the back of her neck. She could feel the warmth from Regina's body rush through her. God, even when she didn't want to like the woman her body seemed to be feeling otherwise. Emma looked up at Mr. Gold, his yellowish eyes moving between the two of them. He was most definitely plotting their downfall.

"No. I think you two would be perfect for the program. I'll be back in a couple of weeks to see how things are going." He waved them away and headed out of the door. The two women stood open mouthed at the realization that they would have to work together for at least the next few weeks, and possibly longer. Something that both Emma and Regina had mixed feelings about.

"Oh and Mrs. Mills, make sure you do well on this." He smiled like he had a hidden agenda and then disappeared down the hallway.

Emma crossed her hands in front of her self-consciously. "What the hell did that mean?"

"Ugh, this day couldn't get any more worse." Regina spit through her teeth as she stomped over to her desk.

"I'm sorry that working with me is the worse news you could get this morning." Emma smarted off sarcastically.

"No. You were just the cherry on top of this terrible morning."

"So you were late to work, big deal."

"I'm so glad you're an expert of my life. When I care to hear your opinion then I'll call you." Regina huffed and began working away on her computer.

"Oh I'm sorry princess. I wasn't the one who decided to fall off the face of the earth and ignore people who might actually care." It was too late for Emma to contain her anger. She didn't want to do this this morning, but Regina's attitude gave her no choice.

"Really? This is what you want to do this morning? What the hell is your problem?" Regina stood up and leaned her hands on her desk.

"My problem? I thought I made that very clear Friday evening."

Regina grabbed the bridge of her nose. "This is not happening." She shook her head annoyingly. "Look, I'm not in the mood to discuss this right now. I have too much on my mind as it is."

"What like Daniel?" Emma was letting her have it this morning, as if she hadn't already given her everything on Friday, it still seemed there was something inside of her that was ready to pop.

"How dare you!" Regina slammed her hand down on her desk. "You have no right to talk about Daniel."

"Why not, he is the one that stole you away from me."

"What?"

Emma couldn't hold it in. It was like word vomit, even worse than Friday.

"You… heard me." Emma stuttered, quickly losing her position in the conversation.

"Are you jealous?" Regina's question threw Emma off.

"What? No!" Emma defended.

Regina stepped around her desk studying Emma's movement. The blonde wasn't backing down, but Regina could tell Emma was nervous. This conversation had gone further than Emma had expected and Regina was going to take advantage of it.

"I'm not jealous." Emma protested again. Regina didn't say anything. She continued her slow agonizing advance on the blonde, and Emma finally had to step back. Emma could feel the burning around her again, but this time it wasn't Regina.

"If there is something you would like to say to me, then I suggest you say it." Regina lifted an eyebrow to the nervous blonde. She had almost backed her up to her bookshelf.

"I'm not scared of you." Emma blurted out. Her back hit the bookshelf behind her and she heard it rattle. The brunette was within a few inches of her. Emma's heart skipped a beat.

"Prove it."

Emma's lips parted and she noticed Regina's eyes dart toward them, then back up into her eyes. Did she just see that? She saw that right?

Regina quickly turned away from Emma and headed over to her desk. Emma got a wave of her apple cinnamon perfume and it made her mouth water. She shut her lips for fear of actually drooling. Her fingers tingled at the sensation of being so close to her.

"I believe you have a class to teach." Regina quickly sounded like her old self, obnoxious and demanding, but Emma didn't notice. She stood there for a moment, trying to plan out how to keep herself under control for the rest of the day.

"Good day, Ms. Swan." She heard Regina call out as the blonde forced herself out of the office.

The rest of the day, Emma couldn't think of anything else but what Regina had said to her. And not even what she said, but how she said it. The lingering smell of apple and cinnamon hung around her all day, and she wasn't too upset about it seeing as it was the perfume Emma bought for her on her birthday last year. The thought made her smile. She remembered the first time Regina wore it, Emma could hardly keep her hands off the brunette that night. She remembered it being dinner and a movie night, but they didn't quite make it to the movie.

"Ms. Swan?" The young voice shook her from her dream. "Um, here's my test."

Emma took the paper from the girl standing in front of her desk. "Oh, thanks. Are you the last one?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Okay, you can go. See you tomorrow."

The girl half sprinted out of the room. The end of the day was always Emma's favorite, but today it was something else. She didn't feel normal. She felt like she wanted to march into Regina's office and let her have it, but she wouldn't be able to control herself and she might end up doing something she would regret. She knew what she saw in that office this morning. She saw a woman interested. A woman who wanted more than she was showing the world. This was turning into a roller coaster of a ride.

Speaking of… she needed to go get a phone. She might need it soon.


	8. Breaking the Ice

**Things are starting to look up, yeah? I'm excited about the next few chapters. **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><span><strong>Breaking the Ice<strong>

"Emma, we have to be on the same page with this or Mr. Gold is going to have both our necks. He will eat us alive if we can't agree on everything." Regina sat amidst a mountain of paper work sprawled out around her on the floor of her office. Emma was sitting in one of the office chairs outside of the circle of papers exhausted because they had been trying to figure this out for almost a week. Thankfully the work load of this project had sort of kept their minds off of everything else spiraling around them. August had gone home a few days before, despite a well-executed plead from Henry for him to stay. As for Regina, staying late at the office was keeping her mind of the fact that Daniel had still not come back home after he walked out that last Friday.

"How long are we going to argue about this? It's been a week. And we still have to actually start tutoring kids." Emma slapped her knees and stood up out of her chair, frustratingly pacing the room.

"I don't know." Regina sighed. "I'll just have to take this all home this weekend and work on it." The brunette started piling the paper work up around her. Emma propped herself up on the back of the chair and watched her.

"Well Daniel is probably not going to like that." Emma commented slyly. She could feel Regina roll her eyes and the blonde smiled a little at the motion, knowing she could still get under her skin.

"I'm sure he would be fine with it seeing as he won't even be home and it _is _my job." Regina hesitated, realizing she had said too much. She waited for a bombardment of questions from Emma, but none came. She turned to find Emma looking through a couple of papers Regina had left on the ground and figured she may not have heard what she said. Regina watched her from the corner of her eyes, hoping not to draw attention to herself or get caught for staring. The blonde's hair was falling from its normally perfect braid, and a few lose strands had fallen into her face. It had been a long time since Regina had seen her like this. Working hard late into the evening in her office like they had done on many occasions in the past. It was a famous past time for the two women when they were closer, but now that just seemed like a distant dream.

"You know, I hate to have you work on this all by yourself." Emma handed the last few papers to Regina. "Maybe we can meet somewhere… public… and work on it." She threw out the idea, hoping Regina would catch on. And maybe she did, but it didn't stick.

Regina's chest jumped a little at the offer, and as much as she probably did want some alone time with Emma, she wasn't sure when Daniel would show back up and she didn't think it was such a good idea for them all to be in the same room. "Thank you Ms. Swan, but I don't think that's a good idea."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Emma waved the question away, more than a little disappointed.

Regina sighed. "Look, if it makes you feel better, if I happen to get stuck on something I can call you."

Emma lit up a little and tried to hide her blushed smile but it was no use.

"Oh wait, I have a new phone, so I need to give you my new number. Seems my other one was everything but wall resistant." Emma chuckled at her own joke. Regina raised an eyebrow at her, slightly curious about what she meant.

"Well here, write it down and I'll put it in my phone when I get home." Regina handed her a paper and fished out a pen from her drawer. Emma smiled a little as she wrote her number down.

"What are you so giddy about?" Regina asked pulling her purse over her shoulder.

"Oh nothing. I was just remembering the first time I gave you my number. Just a little déjà vu."

"Yeah well don't get used to it." Regina raised an eyebrow and snatched the paper from the blondes hand and shoved it into her purse.

Emma held up her hands in defeat and grabbed her bags off the floor. She headed out into the hallway and waited for Regina to lock up her office. They were the last ones to leave the school for the last few days since they had been really crunching to work on this tutoring project. If anything, Emma was actually glad to be working on this project with Regina. Being around her so much had suppressed some of the anger that had built up from not spending time with her.

They walked out together still talking about the project, and bouncing around ideas and possible students that would need some tutoring. Emma wasn't really paying attention though. She just liked the sound of Regina's voice, and realized she missed it.

"Uh, Ms. Swan?" Emma snapped out of her thoughts and realized they were standing at Regina's car. "I need to get home, so if you will kindly excuse me." Regina opened her Mercedes door and sank down in the seat.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Um, call me… yeah if you need to work things out." Emma awkwardly smiled and shut the door to Regina's car. She figured standing there and watching her pull away would be weird, so she hustled to her own car and jumped in. She shook her head, knowing she was trying too hard to get attention. This was going to be harder than she imagined. In only a week she had seemed to move past most of the anger, and their little debacle in Regina's office Monday gave her a new wind toward their relationship. Slow and steady wins the race.

Her drive home was quiet. Emma decided to keep the radio off this time so she could think about all the things she needed to do this weekend. Henry had a basketball tournament out of town, and he would be staying overnight so she had the apartment to herself. She should probably clean and do some laundry, maybe head to the grocery store for some food. Henry was only one kid, but God did he eat enough for four.

Home was pretty quiet too. She had gotten used to the noise of two boys running around the house and today it seemed quieter than usual. She didn't have anyone to cook for or make sure she got to bed on time. Tonight was a night to treat herself. A nice glass of wine and a bubble bath really sounded like something that would hit the spot.

* * *

><p>Regina let out a sigh as she pulled into the driveway. Daniel's car was still gone and she wondered if she would ever see him again. She wanted to hate herself for wanting a divorce, but she couldn't. She knew that it was best for the both of them. Daniel wasn't the same man she remembered before the war, and she surely wasn't the same woman. He had been gone for so long that she simply forgot how to live with him.<p>

She slumped out of her coat and threw down her bags as soon as she walked in the door. No use in keeping the house up for anybody. And she surely didn't want to disturb all the skeletons in the closet just to hang up her jacket. She walked into the kitchen, her heels clicking on the tile floor, and opened the fridge. She could only starve herself so much before she became too weak to care. She decided a sandwich would cause the less amount of stress in making, and since she hadn't been to the store in over a week, she was depressingly out of wine, and figured Daniel wouldn't mind if she had one or even a few of his beers.

After eating about half of her sandwich she left it sitting on the counter and walked into the living room, the beer still cold in her left hand. She stood at the entrance of her kitchen, her open living room sat empty in front of her. Her eyes wondered around the room, the pale white walls giving her a headache. Her line of sight stopped at her bags where she remembered the little slip of paper that Emma's number was written on. She headed that direction and dug through her purse to find it. She took the slip of paper in her hands and headed over to the couch, plopping down casually, almost spilling her beer. She took a chug of it and stared at the ten numbers written on the paper. God, Emma had really bad handwriting.

She pulled out her phone and fixed Emma's contact information in her contact list. She forced herself to not push the call button, seeing as they had only been away from each other for about an hour today and that would just be too weak of her. She had to be strong. She already made her move Monday morning and now she needed to wait it out and let Emma figure herself out. She didn't want to rush into things, especially now with her relationship with Daniel hanging by a thread over a bottomless cavern.

Her eyes no longer could stay open and she started to doze off on the couch. She set the empty beer bottle on the coffee table and shuffled off to her room. Her empty queen sized bed looked more comfy than it had in months. She slipped out of her suit and put on an oversized t-shirt leaving her legs uncovered. She pulled back the covers and slid into the bed, allowing it's warmth to take over her body. She didn't realize how cold she was until she was engulfed in her comforter, and before long she was gone. Sleep had become something of a lost art the last week, and it had finally caught up with her. If only her dreams were a better place than reality she may have missed sleeping. As her luck would have it, however, they only seemed to be a reminder of what could have been. The missing links in her life hid way beyond her dreams, in a place her mind had dug up for her. If there ever was a happy time in Regina Mill's life, it was long before she had the good sense to hold onto the things she loved most.

* * *

><p>Emma woke up to her phone ringing off the hook. She checked the clock to see what time it was when she realized it was still dark. 3:00am.<p>

"Who the hell…?" She stretched over to her cell phone and saw it was Regina. "Really?" She sighed. She answered nonetheless.

"Hello?" She huffed as she laid back and stretched her free and above her head.

"Emma! Emma!"

Emma immediately sat up in her bed hearing the desperate tone of Regina's voice. She sounded like she was out of breath.

"Regina? What's going on…?"

"Shhh Emma, someone is in my house!"

"What?!" Emma ripped the covers off her bed and immediately headed to the closet for a pair of boots.

"I don't know, I think it's a burglar."

"Where are you right now?" Emma fell back on her bed trying to put on her boots in frustration and then grabbed a jacket from her closet. This would be much easier with two hands.

"I'm in my room." She whispered into the phone.

"Have you called the police?"

"Of course, I'm not stupid."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Okay, stay there, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Where else am I supposed to go?" Regina smarted back.

Emma hung up the phone without answering and sprinted out of the door, almost forgetting to shut it behind her.

Her yellow beetle felt like it was crawling down the street despite Emma forcing the gas pedal to the floor. She didn't know what she was going to find when she got to Regina's house. Hopefully the police got there before she did, because she didn't trust herself not to beat the shit out of whoever was in her house.

She could see the red and blue flashing lights before she turned down Regina's street, and a wave of relief swept over her. She parked a few houses down and jogged up to the police cars out in front of Regina's house. She saw a few of the neighbors standing outside, obviously disturbed by the bright lights in their windows in the middle of the night.

"Graham!" She spotted the sheriff talking to another officer on Regina's front porch.

"Emma? What are you doing here?" He met her in the middle of the yard in an attempt to keep her a good distance away from the house.

"She called me. Where is she? Is she okay? What happened?" Emma felt herself becoming flustered. She started to push past him but he stopped her, grabbing her arm.

"She is fine, she is inside." She looked at Graham puzzled.

"Um, can you let me go in?" She tried to pull away from him.

"I don't think that's a good idea." He kept his grip on her arm.

"And why is that?"

"Well it seems that Daniel came home a little intoxicated and decided to take out a little bit of anger on the living room."

Emma's face went heavy and she felt the anger growing inside her. "I'll kill him."

Graham quickly stuck his arm out blocking her sudden advance toward the house. "And that is exactly why I cannot let you go in. I've sent an officer in to arrest him and I'll be personally taking him to the station. As for you, I need you to stay out here till we have him. Can you do that?" He gave up on trying to hold her and decided just to keep his distance and keep her at bay.

She rolled her eyes and eyed the front door as an officer entered the house. She knew she didn't like Daniel because of the obvious, but right now she hated him with all the passion in the world. She wanted to go in there and beat him senseless. What gives him the right to show up drunk and go on a rampage through the house?

The sheriff left her outside pacing the lawn until he came back out of the house with Daniel in cuffs walking next to him, flailing and cursing at the officers trying to subdue him. She refrained from running up to him and giving him a piece of her mind, and more likely a piece of her fist. Thankfully Regina came out of the door wrapped in a blanket with another officer and took Emma attention off of him. She ran up to her on the porch.

"Regina are you okay?" She forced herself not to get too touchy, still unsure of how things were between them, plus she noticed Regina had tensed up a little bit at her sudden approach.

"Emma!" Regina was startled a bit at the sudden approach of the blonde but was grateful to see Emma there. She needed someone to take her mind off of her night.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Emma pointed toward Daniel who was being pushed inside of a police cruiser by two officers, her anger obvious in her tone.

"No he didn't touch me. Just my living room." Regina pulled Emma inside the house, knowing the blonde was capable of doing something she would regret. One last officer passed them as they stepped inside, and notified Regina that he was sorry for the disruption and the insurance agent would be by the house soon. She thanked him and shut the door as he left.

"Holy shit." Emma looked around at the room. There was not a thing in there that wasn't broken or thrown across the room. "Why did he do this?" She asked as her eyes wondered at the mess.

"Well truthfully it's probably mostly my fault." Regina admitted heading into the kitchen. She was thankful he didn't hit that room too hard.

"How could this be your fault, you were asleep." Emma followed closely behind the woman into the bright kitchen.

"No, not directly. More indirectly."

"So are you going to beat around the bush or just tell me?" Emma smarted sarcastically.

Regina sighed and rolled her eyes, her brain tired from tonight's debacle. "I told him I wanted a divorce." She admitted softly.

Emma's eyes widened at the notion. Regina and Daniel getting a divorce?

"Wow. Um, I'm sorry." Emma tried to sound genuine. She was, but deep down she felt a slight flutter of happiness. Maybe that was selfish, but she didn't care.

"Yeah well… it just wasn't like it used to be. He was so different, I… am different." Regina swallowed hard shooting a glance up at Emma and then quickly back down to the island she was leaning on. She didn't really need to reveal too much right now. This was neither the time nor the place to talk about this.

Emma didn't know what to say. I mean she knew what she wanted to say, but she figured that if this relationship was going to stay tame she probably shouldn't say anything. What she wanted to say was better left unsaid.

"So what are you going to do?" Emma asked nervously.

"Well, I have the divorce papers already. But Daniel hasn't been home since I told him, which was last Friday. So he hasn't signed them. I'm hoping that he will sober up a little and I can go talk to him in the morning. I'm sure he knows after this that we are definitely not going to work out." She walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer.

"You drink beer now?" Emma looked at her like she had seen a ghost.

"For your information, yes, I do. I've acquired the taste and it's not that bad." Regina popped the cap and brought the cool glass to her lips.

"Since when?" Emma protested. "I've been trying to get you to try beer since we met, and you've always said no."

"Since last night actually." She smiled childishly. Emma couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Regina pulled one out for Emma.

"You. I just never thought I would see this day. I'm going to have to get used seeing you like this." Emma popped the cap off and shook her head as she took a swig.

"And what makes you think you'll be seeing me like this on a regular basis?" Regina raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

"I don't know. Will I?" Emma shrugged and played back.

They stared at each other for a moment, sizing each other up. Emma liked this game. It gave her a chance to stare at her for a good reason. Not that there was ever not a good reason to stare at Regina. It's just now, she was allowed to and it felt good to be allowed.

"Maybe." Regina eyed Emma as she walked past the blonde and made her way around the island toward the debris covered living room.

God, Emma could have died right then and been happy. These little hits from Regina were going to drive her crazy if this didn't move along. She wanted to rip that blanket off her and see what was underneath. She had almost forgotten about the curves and the soft skin and she needed a pick me up. She was burning for the brunette and there was no denying that at this point.

"So, seeing as your house is destroyed…" Emma quickly followed Regina into the living room. "You need a place to stay?" Emma nervously pushed her free hand into her pocket and chased her question with a large gulp of her beer.

"My living room is destroyed. Not my bedroom, Ms. Swan." Regina pointed out.

Emma looked down at the floor shyly, and pushed her hair behind her ear. "Well sure if you want to get technical. But I would hate for you to wake up to all of this mess. I got a free, not… murdered couch." Emma motioned to the ripped and fluff covered couch that littered the living room. She didn't want to look at Regina, but she did anyway and met the woman's intoxicating stare.

"Are you inviting me to your apartment?" Regina questioned bluntly.

"Just a friendly invitation." Emma threw up her hands in innocence. Though her innocence was only a cover for what she was really thinking.

Regina turned away from the woman and headed up her stairs. "I'll pack a bag." Regina called back. Emma couldn't hold back a smile that stretched from ear to ear and her teeth shown bright in the dirty room. She pumped her arm like she had just won a game. She did win. She was winning. Regina was coming to her apartment. After months of wondering if this would ever happen again, she did it. Score one for Emma!


	9. A Second Chance

**Sorry for the delay in updating! Life is crazy sometimes right? Anyways I'm glad you were excited about Emma and Regina's progress so far. They are getting oh so close to getting things back to normal! :)**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>A Second Chance<strong>

Emma woke unfortunately to an empty bed early the next morning. She offered to take the couch the night before and insisted on Regina taking the bed, but the brunette wouldn't allow it. A clap of thunder now echoed outside, and she could hear a heavy rain pelting her bedroom window. She heard the shower running from the bathroom down the hall, and she guessed Regina had remembered where the shower was since the last time she was there.

Throwing her bead spread off she laid there for a few minutes, trying to decipher what had happened in the last few hours. Regina was at her apartment. Regina had stayed the night. Regina was in her shower. What? Where in the directions does it explain how to act when this happened?

As she laid there she dozed off a little and didn't realize the shower had turned off and she sure didn't notice Regina standing in her doorway in nothing but Emma's robe. She needed more practice, her senses were off.

"Emma? Are you awake?" Regina whispered.

Emma pulled her head up from her pillow looking at the beautiful brunette standing in her doorway. Her hair was wet and plastered around her face. She had never seen someone so beautiful in her life, even if most of her was covered in that evil robe.

"I see you found my robe." Emma smiled childishly.

"I'm sorry, I seem to have been more tired than I thought last night and ran off without a fresh change of clothes at home, and the ones I was wearing last night aren't really suitable for today's activities." Regina admitted shyly, pulling the robe tighter around her waist.

"It looks better on you anyway." Emma heaved herself out of her bed and went over to her closet. Regina blushed at the comment.

"I have some stuff that might fit you." Emma shifted through her hordes of clothes trying to find something that wasn't wrinkled.

Regina made her way to the closet and watched closely as Emma filtered through her clothes. After a few minutes, Emma had tossed about half her closet out on her bed and Regina laughed at how worked up she was getting about picking out an outfit.

"Emma, it's fine. Why don't you let me look?" Regina placed a hand on Emma's shoulder to calm her down.

Emma had no clue why she was so worked up all of the sudden. She just wanted everything to be perfect and for some reason she felt like if she messed anything up, that would be the end of it. This was her second chance, and even in her world those didn't come around as often as she liked.

"Sorry, I'll uh, go see about breakfast while you get ready." Emma smiled embarrassingly and headed out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

As she headed into the kitchen, Emma couldn't help but imagine the woman in her room. She almost missed the cups while she was pouring coffee for the both of them. She watched the rain out of the dining room window feeling it wash away the recent past. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad. It seemed like when she was with Regina, her life really did feel more comfortable. All of the formalities and nervousness and anger that was the last month seemed to spur from not being able to be around her. When she was with her, everything was different. They were civil.

"Coffee smells good." Regina came out of Emma's room in a pair of tight jeans and a loose dark button down satin shirt.

"Hey! Yeah, here you go!" Emma handed her a cup made just the way Regina liked it.

"You remembered how I take my coffee." Regina smiled, sipping the warm liquid and savoring the sweet hazelnut soothing her throat.

Emma felt the chills down her spine. "Of course. I'm sorry I don't have much to eat. Henry has been like a machine, and I haven't gotten the chance to go to the grocery store. I can make you some toast if you'd like?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm not really in the mood to eat this morning. I need to head to the police station anyway and see about fixing all of this mess that has become my life." She took another sip of her coffee.

"It could be worse I guess." Emma tried to lighten the mood.

"I don't know. I messed this one up pretty bad." The brunette sat down at the dining room table. Emma leaned up against the doorway to the kitchen, watching the brunette draw circles with her fingers on the table.

"You know, people get divorced all the time. It's not like it's a terrible thing. People grow apart, people change."

"I wish that made me feel better." Regina pouted.

Emma made her way over to the table and sat down next to Regina. She laid a hand on Regina's feeling the warm soft skin in hers. "Hey. This is a chance to start fresh. You are giving Daniel a chance to start fresh too, don't forget. You deserve someone who can protect you."

Regina looked up at Emma, her hazel eyes lit up by the dim light coming through the window, the reflection of the water drops playing on her cheeks. She hadn't really looked into them in so long and she never noticed how they sort of pulled her back to life. The color in her cheeks blushed and she had to look away, pulling her hand out from under Emma's at the same time. She felt embarrassed, like she didn't deserve what Emma wanted to give her. She had been such a terrible person since Daniel came back, and she didn't feel like she earned any of Emma's love.

Emma cleared her throat, quickly pulling her now empty hand back to her coffee cup. She opened her mouth to speak but Regina interrupted her by dismissing herself from the table.

"I really should be heading down to the police station." She put her cup in the sink and headed toward the door.

"Wait, um… I should drive you." Emma jumped up from the table awkwardly, almost spilling her coffee.

"Oh, no it's fine. It's not far, I can walk." She pulled her coat off the couch, where she had left it the night before, and slid it on.

"Regina, it's raining outside. I'm driving you." Emma protested. "Just let me go put some decent pants on." She smiled, playfully posing in her pajama shorts. "By the way, I like that apparently all of my clothes look better on you." She said hoping off into her room.

Regina blushed and leaned back on the door. She smiled at the cheesy comment, remembering the first one about her robe. Oh how she missed Emma's cheesy compliments.

She leaned her head back on the wooden door and closed her eyes. She was not looking forward to confronting Daniel this morning. Hopefully he had sobered up and calmed down. She didn't feel like arguing with him anymore. This needed to end today. She would explain everything to him and they would sign the papers and things would be fine. She could go back to the way things were. What a weekend this was turning out to be.

"Okay, you ready?" Emma jogged out of her room, pulling her hair up into a messy ponytail behind her head.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

><p>Sheriff Graham met the two women in the hallway of the precinct. "Mrs. Mills. Ms. Swan. Lovely to see you two in the office this morning."<p>

"Good Morning, Sheriff." Regina shook Graham's hand and Emma smiled and waved awkwardly behind her.

Graham shifted his eyes between the two women as they stood in front of him, but before he could ask the burning question, he got a stern look from Emma who pointed him toward Regina.

"I'm guessing you would like to see your husband." Graham rubbed his hands together. "Right this way." He motioned for them to follow him into the holding area.

When they entered, Regina saw Daniel lying down on a cot in one of the cells. Her heart sank at the site of him. He had already been through hell and back from the war, and now he is locked up in the local jail because of her. There was no doubt she felt solely responsible for this situation.

"Hey, Daniel." Graham knocked on the bars to the cell. "Wake up, you have visitors."

"Can you let him out?" Regina asked genuinely as she watched the man push himself out of bed sleepily, slowly raising his eyes to the three persons that stood outside his cell.

"I'm sorry, I can't…" Graham started but was interrupted by an obnoxious cough by Emma. The blonde gave him a second stern look and shook her head. Graham looked back at Regina whose attention was totally taken by the man in the cell. Without another word, he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door.

Before Daniel could make his way out, Regina was already inside. She hesitated like she wanted to hug him, but then second guessed it.

Emma leaned back on one of the desks in the room and crossed her arms in front of her hoping to stay in the background of this encounter.

"How… How are you feeling?" Regina stepped back from the man.

"I could use a cup of coffee, but other than that, I'm okay." He came out of the cell and quickly glanced up at Emma who had a smug look on her face. She could feel the nerves tingling through her body. It was taking everything she had not to tackle him and beat him to a pulp.

"I'll get you some coffee." Graham interrupted. "Anyone else need any?" He asked. Emma raised her hand in acceptance and Regina shook her head.

"No thanks, Graham." Regina waved him away. She nervously stared at her hands and waited for him to leave.

The room was quiet for a while. Emma was beginning to get anxious for this meeting to move along. She tapped her now short nails on the desk she was leaning on and cleared her throat. She suddenly felt multiple sets of eyes in her direction. She looked over to see Regina and Daniel staring at her. Regina motioned slightly dropping the hint that they needed some privacy. Emma took the hint, even though she didn't like it.

"Oh, um let me go see if Graham needs help with the coffee." She smiled at Regina and then suspiciously eyed Daniel. She hustled out of the room and found a bench in the hallway. She huffed down into it and leaned her head back on the wall. She could hear the muffled voices of Daniel and Regina, but unfortunately she was too far to understand anything.

"Got kicked out, huh?" Graham appeared in front of her with two cups of coffee in his hand.

"No…" Emma protested. "I didn't feel like sticking around for any mushy stuff."

Graham laughed a little and took a seat next to Emma on the bench.

"Coffee?" He offered one of the cups up to her

"Thanks. Is there alcohol in this?" Emma joked, gladly taking it. She never got to finish her cup at home before they left so this one was a godsend. Graham took a sip of his and tapped his foot on the ground.

"Unfortunately, our budget for spirits has been dwindling over the past few months." Graham admitted jokingly.

"That's a shame. I'll remember to put in a complaint about that." Emma sighed. "Are you not going to go in there and mediate?" Emma asked casually, stirring up the warm liquid in her cup.

"Nah, they'll be fine." Graham waved the thought away.

"What about Daniel, isn't he dangerous?" Emma asked, a little worried.

"Him? No. He's just a man with a broken heart." Graham admitted looking down at his boots.

"Wow that was deep." Emma sighed and realized Graham was probably right. She wasn't exactly herself either after her and Regina broke up. Maybe she should give him a chance.

The voices in the other room began to raise to shouts and Emma got up quickly and started to make her way into the room.

"Hey, hey. Where are you going?" Graham grabbed her arm.

"They are yelling, I just want to make sure she is okay." Emma tried to pull away from him. If Daniel touched a hair on Regina's head, she would kill him right here in the station.

"Just let them be. Their marriage is falling apart. They are going to fight. It's part of the process of getting all those emotions out." He pulled her back to the bench but she couldn't sit down. She paced in front of him, nervously taping her coffee cup.

"I should be in there, just in case." Emma hesitated in the direction of the room.

"Emma, if you don't sit down I'm going to have to handcuff you to this bench." Graham stood up and stood in her view of the room. Emma sighed and her body fell limp as she heavily sat down on the bench.

"I just… I haven't been there for her in months and it kills me that I'm not in there by her side. I've wasted too much time already." Emma buried her head in her hands.

"You will have plenty of time to be by her side. She needs to do this on her own. She is a grown woman." Graham laid a warm hand on her shoulder.

"When did you turn so sentimental, Graham? I figured you would be the last person to be giving me relationship advice." She looked up at him. "No offense." She apologized.

"None taken. I know what you mean. The Sheriff is not usually the first person you see about relationships. But I've known Regina for a long time, and the fact that she let you come here with her today shows a lot."

"Really?" She gave him a puzzled look.

"Sure. Regina is a one woman show, she always has been. Even after she was married, she was always off doing things on her own. While Daniel was busy at the base, she took care of things at home. I remember when you came to town though with Henry. Something changed. She didn't have to take care of herself anymore. She had someone who she could take care of and who would take care of her. That's what makes this different. Just give her some time." Graham's smile was so genuine it almost brought tears to her eyes. Or it may have been because of what he actually said. She had never known she had made such a difference in Regina. A difference big enough for the town to notice. Her heart tingled a little realizing that she was important to someone. But Regina was important to her too.

The two of them sat for a while in silence. The other room had grown quiet as well, and Emma began getting impatient. She kept her mind on Henry to help calm her nerves. His bus was supposed to be back around eight tonight and she needed to go pick him up. She couldn't wait to see him. He had been such a rock for her while all this was going on, even if he didn't know it. Who knew the weekend he was gone, everything was changing. She was sure he would be as excited as she was to have Regina back.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as they heard the door to the office squeak open. Both Emma and Graham stood up awkwardly eyeing the open door, waiting for the two to emerge, but only one did. Daniel.

Graham looked back at Emma before approaching the man slowly. Daniel looked up at him and then over to Emma who had taken a small step back, feeling uncomfortable seeing as she may have been part or all of the reason his life was falling apart.

Graham stepped past him and quickly looked into the office to make sure Regina was okay and saw her sitting in one of the office chairs, her head buried in her hands.

"Everything okay?" He turned back to Daniel and laid a hand on his shoulder.

Emma waited, her eyes never leaving Daniel's. They stood there a moment sizing each other up. The hallway felt like it was shrinking in on the two of them, forcibly squeezing them together. She was the first to falter, flicking her eyes over to Graham long enough for him to get the message that she was uncomfortable.

"Alright mate, why don't we head over to Granny's and talk over some coffee." Graham pushed the soldier slightly from behind to help him get started. When Daniel took a step toward the blonde she immediately stepped to the side. Graham made sure he was between the two of them as they passed her and gave Emma a reassuring glance, motioning his head toward the office where Regina still had not emerged. Thankfully, Daniel had averted his eyes down to the floor as they passed her and Emma moved close along the wall hoping to create as much space as possible between the two of them.

When the two men rounded the corner she headed into the office. She saw the brunette leaned forward with her head on one of the desks, and approached her slowly. When Emma reached the desk, she hesitated to say anything at first, not knowing if Regina wanted to even talk to her at the moment. She decided talking was less uncomfortable than the silence.

"Hey." She said softly.

Regina lifted her head from the table and looked up at the blonde. Her eyes were blood shot from crying and arguing, but she managed a small smile that vaguely graced her lips.

"Hey." She was relieved to see a familiar face with her. She kept her chin down on her arms crossed on top of the desk. A stray tear fell down her cheek and she had no energy to wipe it from her face. Luckily, Emma did.

Emma squatted down so that she was eye level with the woman. She brought her hand to the brunette's cheek and gently wiped the wetness from her smooth skin with her thumb. Regina let out a small moan at the gesture and took in the warmth of Emma's hand.

"I'm so sorry." Emma looked into Regina's eyes, holding back her own tears. She couldn't help but feel responsible for all of this, and there wasn't anything she hated more than seeing Regina upset. "This is my fault."

Regina lifted her head from the table and took Emma's hand in her own, squeezing it tightly, like she never wanted to let go. With one hand she pushed a blonde curl that had fallen from Emma's pony tail behind her ear and then lifted her head from under her chin so that they were looking at each other.

"This is most certainly not your fault, dear." Regina looked dead into her hazel eyes. "Unfortunately, this was going to happen despite everything else." Regina reassured her. She could still see the hurt behind the blonde's eyes. "The only thing that you have done is reassure me that I have something better. I have something worth fighting for. You, and Henry of course, are all that I have ever needed. You are all that is important to me. I love you."

Emma could no longer hold back her tears as they flowed like a river from a broken dam. For so long she had waited for the moment when Regina could say those words to her. Those three little words. And maybe it didn't all play out exactly the way she thought it would have, but at the end of the day, she got the girl. And that was truly all she ever wanted. She knew the transition was going to be difficult, and things were going to be rough for a while as they got used to being around each other again. However, there was no doubt in her mind that Regina was perfect.

"I love you too."

Regina slipped out of her chair and let Emma fall into her arms on the floor. They cried together, letting out the stress of life since Daniel's return. Every little thing that had happened melted away into the cold air. Their bodies warmed each other and neither of them wanted to move for fear of losing the other again. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else was more important than that moment. This was it. This was their second chance.


	10. Christmas Break

**So this is actually one of my favorite chapters. It's just kind of cute and a little bit of fluff and a lot of happiness! Which we are going to need to hang on to for later chapters... (no spoilers!) Hope you guys like it, and I'll get the next chapter up asap. Just as a forewarning the next few chapters are going to cover a large time span. This and the next two are all Christmas break but then I'm going to skip some time and then start back up. Not like years or anything, but like this one is a couple months later from the previous chapter. That kind of thing. Just so nobody is confused! The Chapter titles will give you the hints. **

**PS: Next chapter will have a bit of smut so if you've been waiting for that then it's almost here! **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Christmas Break<strong>

"You have everything?" Emma grunted as she pushed herself through the threshold of Regina's front door and dropped two suitcases on the front porch. They landed with a heavy thud causing Regina to give Emma a stern look.

"Be careful! That has delicate things in it." Regina hollered from inside. Emma rolled her eyes and stepped back inside picking up another bag Regina had just placed in front of the door, signaling it was ready to be put into the car.

"We are only going to be gone for a few weeks. How much stuff do you need?" Emma sighed before having to take her fourth trip from the house to the car. She hoped all of this was going to fit in her little yellow bug, and she was sure Henry was going to suffocate in the backseat before they even made it to their destination.

"Mom, can we leave yet?" Henry shouted from out of the back seat window. He had been patiently waiting while he played his Gameboy, but this was taking much longer than Emma had suspected and she knew he was probably growing impatient.

"Regina, come on. We needed to leave an hour ago." Emma picked up the last bag at the door and headed for the car. She opened the trunk and shoved them in as best she could. She awkwardly shut the door hoping she wasn't smashing anything important.

Regina finally came out, shutting her front door behind her and locked it. She slipped a spare key under one of the flower pots sitting on her porch and then hopped over to the bug.

"Okay, I think I got everything. You guys ready?" Regina fumbled through her purse as she spoke. When she looked up she saw Emma leaning against the car with her hands folded over her chest and Henry giving her a funny face. "What?" She smiled awkwardly. "Aren't we on a schedule. You two are just standing around and we are already late." She hurried around the car. Emma looked down at Henry and they both just shook their heads coming to the same conclusion.

Emma plopped down in the driver's seat and started the car. Regina was busy checking her make-up and hair in the mirror, obviously flustered at their lack of time management. She still needed to call Ms. Bell to make sure she would take care of the house while they were gone.

Emma stared at her for a moment. They had made it to Christmas break, and almost every day since the morning in Graham's office, Emma wondered how she got so lucky. Now, watching Regina primp herself in her mirror made Emma uncontrollably happy. One, because it was just cute, and two, because she knew that no matter how much Regina thought she had to look perfect all the time, Emma thought she looked perfect all the time anyway.

"What?" Regina looked over at the blonde when she realized they hadn't pulled out of the driveway. "Did I forget something?" She quickly grabbed for her purse, checking it for the hundredth time to make sure she got what she needed.

"No, no, I'm sorry. We have everything, don't worry." Emma grabbed Regina's hand and pulled it up to her lips. Regina let out a relaxing smile allowing Emma to hold her hand.

"Oh my gosh, can we go? You guys are making me sick." Henry complained from the back seat.

"Hey, if you are not careful I'll make sure we accidentally leave you in Tallahassee." Emma eyed him sternly through her rear view mirror. Henry rolled his eyes and immediately went back to playing his game.

They pulled out of the driveway and headed out of town. She promised Henry she would take him on vacation, and she was keeping her promise. Little did she know, they would have good company along with them.

* * *

><p>"I figure if you want to drive until we get to Philadelphia, we can stop there and we can switch so you can rest." Regina eyed the map spread out across the front dash trying to figure out a good plan for stops and bathroom breaks.<p>

"That's fine with me." Emma took a sip of her coffee.

"You know they have GPS's on your phone now. You can just plug in where you're going and it will tell you how to get there." Henry chimed in from the back, seeing Regina's obvious struggle with the map in her lap.

"A GP what?" Emma winked at Regina, playing dumb.

"A GPS mom. It's like a map on your phone." Henry sat up so his head was between the two women. "Let me see your phone." He reached for Emma's phone, which she quickly snatched away from him.

"Sit back, put your seat belt on. I know what a GPS is." She laughed. Henry huffed back in his seat. Regina tried to hide her smile but she couldn't. Regina was very happy that she was allowed to come on this vacation. Not only did she need it, but she wanted to spend time with Emma and Henry. She had to make up for everything she had missed since she was gone.

The drive was tiringly long, and Emma regretted scarfing down her coffee within the first hour. She tasted a sip of Regina's tea as the woman dozed off, but quickly decided that was most certainly not what she needed. How that woman made it through the day on tea was beyond her.

Philadelphia came and went, and before Emma knew it she had been driving for almost eight hours. Regina and Henry both were asleep when they got to Philadelphia, and Emma hated to wake them up, so she just kept going. They looked so peaceful. The sun was setting on Regina's side of the car and the orange glow lit up Regina's features. If Emma didn't have to keep her eyes on the road, she could stare at the brunette till her eyes fell out. Every curve was perfectly designed, her lips slightly parted open and her eyes closed to the awful things of the world. She looked so peaceful and relaxed, and it made Emma's heart flutter at the sight.

A stray piece of bang had fallen in Regina's face just barely touching her top lip. Emma smiled and reached over, gently tucking it behind her ear. The brunette opened her eyes at the sensation and sat up tiredly, blinking the last of the sun rays from her sleepy eyes.

"Did we make it to Philadelphia yet?" She asked through a long yawn.

"Yeah, about three hours ago." Emma chuckled a little.

"What? Why didn't you wake me up? You must be exhausted." She sent a worried look at Emma.

The blonde shrugged and shook her head. "I'm fine really. I could go for another hour or so." She admitted.

"Well don't push yourself too much. We have a long way to go and you know how much I worry." Regina pulled down her mirror and checked to make sure her makeup wasn't smeared under her eyes or she didn't have any slobber stains on her mouth.

"Yes, ma'am." Emma teased her.

"Is Henry out too?" Regina turned to see the boy stretched out across the backseat, his Gameboy sitting on his stomach and his legs propped up on the bags that had overgrown in the back.

"Oh yeah. He clonked out pretty soon after you did." Emma turned to check on him.

"He'll be happy when we get there. I guess I could look up some fun stuff to do while I'm awake. Did you have anywhere specific you wanted to go?" Regina asked pulling up her purse from under her feet and digging out her phone.

"Not really. I never got the chance to really sit down and plan anything out over the summer." Emma said turning up the air after she saw Regina shiver a little.

"Well, we'll be decently close to the beach. I'm sure Henry would love that. It looks like there are all kinds of parks and museums to go to. Here it looks like you can go paddling down some of the rivers. And we can always go shopping." Regina smiled. "I guess we can just play everything by ear if you want."

"All of that sounds good to me. As long as we can keep him entertained for the next couple weeks I'll be happy." Emma motioned to the now snoring boy in the backseat. Regina laughed at her, then quickly covered her mouth so as not to wake up Henry.

"It's been a long time since I've taken a trip out of Storybrooke for something other than business." Regina looked out the window at the trees lining the highway and sighed. "It's so beautiful out here."

"Hey." Emma caught Regina's attention back to her. She offered her hand and Regina gladly took it. They laced their fingers together, and Emma held on tight. "I'm really glad you came with us." She saw the brunette blush a little and smile.

"I'm really glad I came too." Regina looked up at Emma. When the blonde turned back to watch the road, they kept their hands together and Regina's stare lingered. She really didn't think she could be any happier right now. She felt like she was exactly where she wanted to be. She wanted to spend every waking moment with Emma and nobody was going to convince her otherwise.

It wasn't until they reached Fredericksburg that Emma let go of Regina's hand, and by that time the sun had set and Emma was about at the end of her rope for driving. They pulled off the highway and stopped to stretch their legs and Henry was about to burst because he had to pee so bad. Emma decided getting another coffee wasn't such a bad idea, and Regina got a few snacks for them to share.

When they got back to the car, Regina and Emma had switched sides so the blonde could get some rest. Coffee or no coffee, Emma was going to pass out. Once they got back on the highway, within thirty minutes, both the blonde and her son were out for the count. Regina felt pretty good after her short naps in the passenger seat. Her neck felt weird though, probably from the awkward position she had slept, but other than that she was ready to go.

Pretty soon they were just about the only cars on the road. The inside of the car was as dark as the outside and Regina only knew her passengers were alive by the obnoxious snoring coming from both of them. Like mother like son she supposed. It wasn't all bad though. She was just happy to be there with both of them.

She was also glad to be done with that last semester of school too. She was counting down the days till Christmas break along with all of the other teachers. Her tutoring project for Mr. Gold turned out pretty well, and hopefully would keep the man off her back for at least the rest of the school year. She had finalized all the paperwork between her and Daniel, and he moved out shortly after their initial confrontation at the Sheriff's station. The last time she had gotten any news of him, he was making himself busy at the base. He was apparently staying with a friend of his somewhere in town, but if he was around any, he made sure to steer clear of her because she never saw him.

"Mom?" Henry's voice from the backseat interrupted her thougts.

"She is asleep, dear. What do you need?" Regina answered.

"I gotta pee again." Henry sat up, his head poking out from the backseat. His eyes were hazy with sleep and he yawned real big before wiping some slobber from his cheek.

"Can you hold on just a little bit, I think we are just a few minutes from the next town." She looked ahead hoping to see a sign for the next town because she really wasn't sure how far they were from the next city and she could use a bathroom break too.

He spoke as he yawned again. "Yeah I think so." He propped his elbows up on the center console and then rested his head on his hands. "How far are we from Florida?"

"I'm not quite sure. I haven't looked at the map to see. Probably still have a ways to go though." She admitted. She wanted to get there too. The sooner they got there, the more time they could spend together.

"Regina?" He turned his head toward her.

"Yes, dear?" She kept her eyes on the road lit up ahead of her.

"Are you going to come live with us when we get back?"

The question threw her completely off guard. She hadn't really thought about that, and it was strange that he was even bringing it up.

"Well, I have a house of my own. I haven't really thought about moving." She admitted without saying no. She really didn't know. If anything she figured they could come live with her, since her house was much too big for just herself, and it would be ridiculous for her to sell her house and live with them in an apartment.

"Can we move in with you then?" He asked plainly, not realizing the seriousness of his questions.

"Um… well we haven't really talked about it. Your mom and I. I guess if you two really want to I wouldn't have a problem with it. But we would have to see what your mother says before we decide anything." She was confused on how they even got on this conversation, and was suddenly glad that Emma was asleep so this wasn't one of those awkward moments. She would never say no to the idea of them moving in, but she had no idea how Emma felt about the subject and working it out right now was not really something she wanted to do.

Henry yawned again. "Okay. I would like that." He sat back and laid down in his seat still very much exhausted.

"I would too, dear." She admitted.

Little did Regina know, Emma was awake, and she heard what she said. The blonde smiled through the darkness at what she had just heard. Moving in with Regina? This was getting serious, and she didn't care. She liked serious. She liked knowing that every day she would be able to see Regina at work, and at home. Some people may find that an overload, but not Emma. The more time she spent around the beautiful brunette, the happier she was. And she was sure Regina felt the same way, or else she wouldn't have said what she did.

Regina found a rest stop just off the highway with bathrooms and a couple vending machines. Henry nearly fell out of the car trying to hop over the bags to get to the bathroom. Emma had woken up as they pulled in and stepped out of the car to stretch and walked over to the driver's side where Regina had gotten out to stretch as well.

"How are you doing?" Emma asked mid yawn.

"Doing fine. How about you?" Regina asked. Emma stepped up closer to Regina and grabbed ahold of her hips, pulling her into her waist. Regina wrapped her arms around the blondes neck and smiled.

"Better now." Emma answered, feeling the brunettes warmth close to hers. Regina smiled and her eyes fluttered down to Emma's lips. The two women were apparently thinking the same thing.

Their lips met quickly before Emma moved down to Regina's chin and even further to her exposed neck.

"Emma! Not here. What if Henry comes back?" Regina protested, but did not pull away. Her back felt the cold metal of the yellow beetle behind her, and she moaned at the soft lips tracing her jaw.

"He'll get over it." Emma spoke between kisses. Their lips found each other again and they lingered together. Emma pressed harder into Regina, nipping at her lips between kisses. Regina found herself getting heated and wasn't sure where this was headed. She felt her skin raise in little bumps as Emma's hands found the warm skin of her stomach. Emma traced her hips, and let her hands pull the brunette closer to her by the curve of her back. Emma had never wanted to kiss her so bad in her life. She pushed herself harder into Regina, allowing her tongue to explore her mouth.

"Emma." Regina let out a moan. "Save some for later." She smiled. Regina knew Emma had a hard time keeping her hands to herself, which was one thing she loved about her. But it would also get them in trouble if they weren't careful. As much as Emma couldn't control herself, Regina couldn't either. She had a hard time saying no to Emma Swan.

Emma pulled back from Regina. She placed her hands on either side of her on the car, trapping the brunette between her arms. Regina smiled as her fingers danced along the front beltline of Emma's jeans. Her fingers looped around her belt loops and pulled the blonde close to her. Emma smiled.

Emma planted one last long kiss on Regina, the two women fighting the urge to rip each other's clothes off.

"I can't wait to get you alone." She whispered in Regina's ear. Regina's stomach leaped into her throat, and she felt a deep rise of heat inside of her.

"Ms. Swan are you trying to get me into bed?" Regina whispered, allowing her lips to find Emma's again. There was never a 'one last kiss' between the two of them.

Emma smiled through the kiss. "That depends. Is it working?" Regina's lips were soft on hers and she didn't want to pull away.

"I guess you'll have to wait and find out." Regina gave her a devilish grin before ducking under one of Emma's arms and heading off to the restroom. The cold air rushed over Emma's body at the departure of her warmth. As the brunette rounded the corner into the women's restroom, Henry came sleepily out of the men's room. He stumbled over to the car and stood next to his mother.

"Feel better, kid?" Emma leaned back on the car and stuck her hand sin her pockets.

"That depends, are we nearly there?" Henry joked. Emma laughed and pulled him into a hug, replacing one warmth with another. She hugged him tightly and even though she didn't want too, she let go. He hardly even put up a fight as he struggled to hold his eyes open.

"Why don't you go back to sleep." She opened the door and let him crawl over the luggage. He stretched out across the seat and was out almost before she could get back to the passenger side. She was still pretty tired from driving before, and she figured Regina probably had another few hours left in her. She yawned and leaned her head on the window. She looked up at the sky and saw the stars burning bright above them. She always loved being away from the city because you could always see so many stars. The same stars she used to wish upon as a child, wishing for a better family, a better life, someone who actually loved her. Now, she had realized she had gotten almost everything she had wished for. She had a kid who she loved more than anyone, and Regina, who loved her for who she was, and not who she used to be.

She smiled and closed her eyes. "Tallahassee, here we come."


	11. Tallahassee

**So I rated this M for a reason, and here it is! Smut. And my first attempt at smut so don't hate me if it's terrible. Let me know what you think! I'm always open to comments and pointers. I want to keep you guys happy! :)**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><span><strong>Tallahassee<strong>

"I'm going again!" Henry came running up to Emma and Regina who had made themselves comfortable on a bench near one of the carnival rides.

"Sure Kid. You got enough tickets?" Emma counted up all the ones he had quickly pulled from his pocket and then handed them back. He took off running into the direction of one of the rides and waved back at them as he sat in his seat.

"He certainly loves that ride." Regina commented waving with Emma back at the boy. Emma pulled her arm around Regina's shoulder and the brunette scooted a little closer. Emma could smell the apple cinnamon perfume that Regina wore almost every day now, just for Emma, and she struggled to keep her hands appropriately to herself.

The sun beat down on the two of them as they watched groups of people walk back and forth in front of them. People watching was a favorite past time of the two women, but something about it was different now, at least for Emma. Instead of focusing on the other people, she was more concerned with the woman in her arms. Even with all the people around them, Regina was all she could think about. Proud that she was able to call Regina hers.

"Henry?" Emma called out as he got off the ride for the fourth time. "It's time to go. We have to make it to the Flying Fish for our reservation."

"Aw moooom. I still haven't ridden the Pirate Ship." Henry slumped over to them.

"Hey, maybe if you mind your mother, we can go see a real pirate ship." Regina stood up above the two of them and pulled her purse around her shoulder.

"Really?" He perked up looking up at his mother for conformation. Emma looked up at Regina, puzzled as well, but Regina nodded reassuring her she would be good on her word.

"Uh yeah kid. But only if you are on your best behavior when we go to dinner."

"I promise!" He grabbed hold of both of their hands and started pulling them toward the exit to the carnival, obviously in a rush to get to the pirate ship. Emma then realized she outweighed the kid by about 50 pounds and started falling behind, causing Henry to strain just to pull her along.

"Oh no. Gravity. Getting heavier. I don't think I can make it." She stuttered as she fell back farther. Henry pulled with all his might, and in a unexpected turn of events, let go of Emma's hand causing her to fall back, hitting the ground hard right on her tailbone.

"Mooom!" He rolled his eyes and let out a heavy huff.

"Emma are you alright?" Regina managed through her laughter. Emma sat there for a minute, hoping to regain some of her pride as she looked around at puzzled stares from strangers walking by.

"Thank for the help. I got it." She heaved herself up off the ground, unable to conceal her laughter as well. She brushed off her jeans and clapped her hands together, knocking the dirt off of her.

"Alright, let's go before I get us into any more trouble." Emma smiled awkwardly and pushed the two down the sidewalk. Henry cheered up as they got closer to the car, knowing that it's one more step closer to seeing the pirate ship.

Regina looked over at Emma as they locked eyes from either side of the car. Emma smiled really big, unable to hide her emotion, and winked at the woman causing the brunette's cheeks to flush. They ducked down into the car and sped off toward downtown. Regina loved the playful side of Emma. Something she hadn't got to experience in the months they were separated. She saw Emma lay her hand open on the center console and happily took it. Emma brought Regina's hand up to her lips and gently kissed the back of her palm. They smiled at each other again. They were like children in a fun house. This vacation was shaping up to be a pretty good one.

* * *

><p>When they pulled up to the restaurant, Emma stopped in the valet parking area outside the front door. She got out and let Henry climb out of the backseat. She didn't notice the few weird stares she got from people walking by. She admitted they weren't the most normal of families, but hey, having your kid climb out of the backseat in front of a five star restaurant is not the worst thing that could happen. When Henry was out, she hurried around to the passenger door and opened the door to let Regina out.<p>

"Did I tell you how beautiful you looked tonight?" Emma whispered into Regina's ear as they walked around the car, her grip tightening around the woman's tight waist. Regina had decided to wear one of her best dresses, which happened to be a little tighter than what she normally was seen in public in. It was a beautiful royal blue dress that finished just above her knees and left her back open for Emma's hand to explore.

"Only about fifteen times. You clean up quite well yourself, dear." Regina squeezed Emma's hand in her own as a thank you for the compliment. Emma was not as much of a fan of dresses for herself. But she didn't mind a nice pair of flared black suit pants and a white silk top.

"Make it sixteen." Emma wrapped her arm around Regina's waist, her hand happily pressed against the curve of her back, and allowed Henry to lead the way into the restaurant. She tossed her keys to one of the men working the valet stand, and he caught it awkwardly looking toward the car and then back at her questioningly. Emma realized they probably didn't get a lot of old yellow beetles in valet.

"It sticks a little in second gear, so no joy riding." She casually waved back to him.

When they walked through the doors, they were greeted with the wonderful smell of fresh seafood and a young service girl at the front desk.

"Reservation name?" She asked pulling up her computer.

"Swan."

"Alright. Swan party of three?"

"That's us."

The girl looked at the three of them, eyeing them a little suspiciously, then grabbed three menus and started off into the restaurant. The three of them followed the young girl through all of the busy tables around them and finally stopped at a booth near one of the back walls.

"Thank you." Regina slid into her side next to the wall with Emma right next to her. Henry wouldn't let Emma sit next to him anymore because, well, he was getting too old for that.

"Henry they have a kids menu on the back if you want that." Emma pointed to his menu.

"Really, mom? Did you forget I'm like 12?" He gave her a stern look, and she threw up her hands in defeat. She inspected her own menu, looking over to see what Regina was looking at.

"Anything look good?" She leaned over into Regina. Regina smirked and pushed her away.

"Well one thing does sound pretty good right now, but I don't think this restaurant serves it." She looked over at the blonde with a devious smile stretching across her face. Emma swallowed hard, her eyes widening with lust for the brunette. Did she really just hear what she thought she heard? She glanced over at Henry who was busy coloring away on the kids menu that their server had just brought him.

Emma lifted up her menu to cover her face and motioned for Regina to do the same. Regina rolled her eyes but reluctantly did as she was instructed. Emma peaked over her menu once again, hopefully not drawing any attention from Henry and then scooted closer to Regina.

"You want to run that by me one more time?" She whispered eyeing the brunette's lips jealously.

"You heard me, dear. This place doesn't seem to be serving what I'm in the mood for." The brunette smiled, bringing her face within inches of Emma's. Emma felt a tingle roll down her spine at the closeness and a knot growing in her stomach. She fought the urge to close the distance completely.

"Um, hello?" They heard Henry call out from the other side of the table. They quickly separated and laid their menu's down on the table. "Are we going to eat any time soon? I'm freaking starving."

Emma cleared her throat and picked up her menu, pretending to read over it.

"Yes, um… I think I uh… know what I want. What about you Regina?"

Regina couldn't help but laugh a little at the fact that she had choked up the great Emma Swan. Usually Emma was the one to drop the subtle hints between them. But this time the tides had turned and they weren't so subtle.

"Yes, I know what I want." She smiled at the boy.

"Thank goodness. Let's eat." Henry threw up his hands.

All through the rest of dinner Emma couldn't help but think about what Regina had said. I mean she knew the woman could be aggressive, but this was over the top. She couldn't remember the last time Regina had said something like that to her. She was usually the one to initiate things like that. She was much more excited than she should have been as she was just trying to imagine what the rest of this night had to offer.

"Mmm… That might have been the most delicious tilapia I have ever had." Regina slowly pulled her fork from her mouth and set it down on her plate. Emma had finished her plate long before Regina and sat back, pleased with her full stomach. Henry played with his fish sticks that he ordered off the kids menu. He ate two of them and left the last two to soak in the ketchup that he squirted all over his plate. When Emma asked what he was doing, he said it was his own war scene and his soldiers had been hit with a bomb. She didn't want any more details, so she didn't argue.

"How about we head back and find a room for the night. Looks like we got a big day ahead of us tomorrow driving down to the beach." Emma paid for dinner and stepped out of the booth, giving a hand for Regina to take as she stepped out behind her. Henry yawned really big and Emma laid a hand on his back to guide him as they walked out. At least when he was tired he didn't protest about being too old for his mother.

As they drove back to the little bed and breakfast Regina had found online, Henry had fallen asleep in the back seat, and Emma couldn't bring herself to let go of Regina's hand. Even when they pulled up and parked out front, she hesitated to let go. The brunette gave her a reassuring squeeze to let her know she wasn't going anywhere and they headed inside.

The older woman at the front desk greeted them as they entered.

"Good evening ladies. What can I get for you tonight?" She said softly.

"We need one room. Two beds please." Emma answered pulling out her wallet.

"I'm sorry dear, our rooms only have one bed in each. But since it's late and we don't have many tenants this time of year, I'll make you a deal and let you have two for one. How does that sound?" The woman pulled out a book from underneath the desk and opened it up to record Emma's information. Regina took Henry off to the side so Emma could pay for the rooms and he sat next to the brunette on a small bench leaning over sleepily on her shoulder.

When Emma had finished with lady at the front she walked over to Regina and Henry. "Hey kid, you want to have your own room tonight?" He sleepily nodded.

"Do you think he will be alright? I can take the second room if you would feel more comfortable." Regina offered.

"Absolutely not. He'll be fine. It'll be just like at home, won't it kid?" She reached out for his hand. He nodded again allowing her to lead him up the stairs.

Henry was out before Emma could close the door to his room behind her after tucking him in. Since the small cottage was pretty much empty except for them, she and Regina got the room right across the hall from Henry's. Emma felt kind of bad leaving him to a room on his own, but he was old enough, and honestly the old lady at the desk wasn't joking when she told her about the small beds.

"Cozy." Emma commented, tossing her bags to one side of the bed, shedding her jacket and quickly changing into her pajamas. She suddenly wished she had brought some pants to wear to bed, because these little shorts she brought weren't going to do anything for warmth. Her skin rose at the touch of the cold air that filled the room.

"Looks like there may be only room for one." Regina teased falling down on the bed and spreading her body out as much as she could. She looked over to Emma and smiled and when she caught the blondes attention, she immediately closed her eyes and made obnoxious snoring noises. Emma stared at her a moment, taking in the entire woman before laughing and pushing herself into the bed.

"Yeah right. Move over, I'm freezing." The blonde hopped into the bed and pushed herself under the covers. Regina pulled herself back out of the bed, and opened her bag to pull out her own pajamas. The silk pajama shirt and pants hung loosely over the brunette's curves, and when Regina turned back around to the bed, she saw the blonde sitting up on her elbow, her eyes examining the brunettes body.

"What?" Regina asked, unable to contain her flushed cheeks.

"You're really beautiful, did you know that?" Emma smiled as she noticed the brunette's complete flush of color.

"Seventeen." Regina teased. She felt the turn of her stomach at the site of the blondes continuous stare. "You know," Regina took a step toward the bed. Emma's eyes widened with anticipation. "I'm not sure if that dinner was all that satisfying." Regina stood at the edge of the bed, her hands running down the buttons of her silk top. Emma was almost drooling at the sight of the woman.

"That's a shame. What ever shall we do?" Emma pushed herself up from under the covers, inching closer to the woman standing before her.

"I could think of a few things." Regina devilishly smiled down at the blonde.

Emma raised herself to her knees and looked dead into the deep brown eyes of the woman. Their faces were so close that Emma could feel Regina's quickened breath on her lips.

"Maybe, we could go get some ice cream?" Emma proposed as she brought her hands up and unbuttoned the top button of Regina's blouse. Regina let her head fall back on her shoulders letting out a small moan.

"No." The brunette's words were almost a whisper.

"Or we could go for a drive?" Emma proposed another option, continuing to the next button. Regina felt like she was being tortured by the other woman's touch, and her skin rose in anticipation.

"Why don't you tell me what you want?" Emma gently touched her lips to the brunettes now exposed chest. Another moan escaped Regina's mouth as her body involuntarily moved into Emma's kiss. Emma's lips moved down Regina's body, kissing every area that became exposed by another button.

"You." Regina whispered again, her hands tangling into the blonde curls. Emma's lips stopped just above the woman's waist. All of the buttons had been gracefully undone, and the shirt barely hung on to the brunette's shoulders. Emma looked up at Regina, allowing her hands to follow the exposed skin on her stomach, moving up between her breasts and finally cupping the brunettes jaw. Regina's breath paced quickly as her body grew warm from Emma's fingers on her skin.

"As you wish." Emma smiled and pulled Regina's lips to hers. Emma took in all that was Regina. Their lips danced together as both women began losing control. Regina felt her top slowly fall from her shoulders and she moved into Emma, taking in her warmth. Emma allowed her body to slowly fall back into the small bed. The weight of the brunette on top of her now, their lips swelling at the constant interaction.

Emma quickly spun around, positioning herself above Regina. She broke the connection of their lips and leaned up, now straddling the woman underneath her. Emma's eyes gazed up and down Regina's exposed breasts and stomach. Regina couldn't help but blush at the way Emma was looking at her. She had never had anyone look at her the way Emma did. There was so much want, so much awe, like a child in a candy store. However childish it may have seemed, Regina loved it. And Emma sure didn't mind it either.

"God, you are so beautiful." Emma bent over and began kissing and nipping at Regina's stomach. Regina felt her hips arch up into the Emma's soft lips.

In one groan of a whisper Regina replied, "Eighteen." She could feel the smile in Emma's kiss around her belly button. Emma straightened back up and pulled her tank top off, throwing it to the floor beside the bed. Regina sat up, the blonde still straddling her and moved her hands up and down the blonde's fit figure. Her abs perfectly toned, and she could feel the muscles in her back tighten at the touch of Regina's fingers. As she kissed her now exposed torso, Emma couldn't help but moan at the feeling of Regina's hands all over her body.

Emma took hold of Regina's face, pulling it up towards hers and took control of her lips. Her tongue dancing along the outside of Regina's bottom lip and then she bit at it lightly with her teeth. Regina's tongue danced inside of Emma's mouth, moving in and out along the roof causing a tingle to run down Emma's spine. They moaned into each other, both enjoying the simplicity of each other's presence combining into one.

Finally, Emma gently pushed Regina back on the bed, unlocking their lips and began moving herself down Regina's torso, this time not bothering to stop at the line of her silk pants that were now soaking. Emma hooked her fingers around both sides of Regina's hips and slowly began pulling the silk down her long tanned legs. Regina's breath hitched as she felt the air between her legs, which was quickly replaced by Emma, who wasted no time in pleasuring the brunette.

Regina's mouth opened at the deep feeling between her legs as Emma worked her magic. She felt her hips rise and lower to the blondes tongue inside of her. She gripped onto Emma's hands that had migrated up the side of her stomach, pulling her closer into her. The blonde moved with Regina's body, in and out, making sure to hit every important part. Emma knew what Regina liked probably more than anyone. She knew how to make her scream her name.

"Emma!" Regina suppressed her unearthly moan as Emma's one final push caused her to climax. Emma took all of her in, tasting all of her sweetness. The brunette's hands dug into the bed above her head as her back arched off the bed. Her breaths were short and stressed and her heart was pounding out of her chest.

"Oh, Emma." Regina moaned again as the blonde finished her work and slid up onto the brunette, their legs intertwining. Emma could feel the remaining heat coming from Regina, pleased to see that her work was appreciated.

Emma took Regina's lips and pressed hard against them. Her tongue taking control now of Regina's mouth. Regina could taste her own lingering sweetness on Emma's tongue and she pushed harder into her.

Emma pulled back and lightly nipped at Regina's chin before falling back all together. They lay there for a moment as they both tried to catch their breaths. Regina looked over at Emma who had closed her eyes, but had a small smile playing across her lips. Regina rolled over, wrapping an arm around Emma's stomach and resting her head on her exposed chest. Emma then wrapped her arm around Regina's back and they both held onto each other. And in that moment they were together. Together in a way neither woman could ever have ever imagined. Together for as long as they wanted to be. Together in life, and together as they fell asleep in each other's arms. Together in Tallahassee.


	12. Tallahassee Part 2

**Sorry for all those out there that love Neal. This is not a good chapter for him. Don't hate me. **

**Kind of a shorty chapter! But it's got some feels :)**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Tallahassee Part 2<strong>

Henry ran out ahead of the two women in the sand, kicking over mounds that had built up from the waves. "This pirate ship is going to be awesome! Look I see it!" He bounced around them, pointing to the ship that was floating in the water just ahead of them at the dock.

"I can't believe you found this place." Emma said as her and Regina walked close next to each other.

"Well it wasn't too hard. You be surprised what you can find on the internet." Regina shrugged her shoulders.

"Mom! Come on! We are going to miss it!" Henry ran ahead of them as they reached the line to go inside. Once Emma paid for the tickets she was sure she would never see Henry again. He took off inside before she could yell after him.

"He'll be fine. There is only so many places he could go." Regina assured her as she took the blondes hand in her own, intertwining their fingers.

The ship turned out to just be a museum for pirate history. Leave it to Regina to find something educational for them to do. Regina smiled at Emma as the blonde turned into a kid at the candy store once they were inside. Emma must have not realized that she was into pirates as much as she turned out to be. Like mother like son.

"Regina, come here! Look at this." Regina made her way over to where Emma was. A huge glass cabinet stretched out horizontally in front of them. Inside was supposedly the only remains ever to be found of an actual mermaid.

"It's like a real life Little Mermaid."

"Well let's hope nobody breaks into song." Regina joked, and Emma laughed a little harder than she should have. Henry had busied himself over at a cabinet full of swords and guns, his face plastered to the glass trying to get a better look at everything.

"Emma?" The unfamiliar voice caught Emma mid laugh and she turned around to find the source. Emma felt her heart fall to the floor as a man approached the two women. He wasn't terrible large, but he was handsome enough. His eyes pierced her skin like a knife and she could hardly hold the shock from her face. Emma knew his face all too well and up until this point she never thought she would ever see him again. Deep down she never wanted to see him again, especially after everything he did.

"Emma, is that really you?" He got closer, and Emma was scared that he was going to try and wrap her in a hug or something. She took a small step back from him inching closer to Regina.

"Um, what are you doing here?" Emma finally managed.

"It's nice to see you too." He joked bringing up his hands and placing them on his hips. "Look at you, you look great!"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Regina butted in. She had noticed Emma's hesitation and decided she needed to step in.

"My name is Neal." He stretched his hand out to shake. Regina looked down at the hand before lightly taking it as her memory processed the name.

"Neal? As in Henry's father, Neal?" Regina found the thought. She looked over at Emma who looked like she was on the verge of an explosion.

"In the flesh. I'm sorry I didn't catch your name?" He asked, turning his attention to Regina.

"Regina." She stated. She stepped a little closer to Emma and the man eyed between the two of them, slowly connecting the dots.

"Are you two…"

"Dad!" Henry sprang up out of nowhere, running and jumping into Neal's arms.

"Hey, big guy! Look at you! You're getting so big. Let's see." He placed Henry back down and measure him up against his body. "Yep, you'll be bigger than me by Christmas I can tell." Henry laughed a little, rolling his eyes as Neal ruffled his hair.

"Mom, you didn't tell me dad was going to be here." Henry said enthusiastically.

"Looks like he surprised us all, kid." She finally managed after flinching a little at the man touching her son. He wasn't his father. He would never be his father. He left her. He left Henry. And now he acts like nothing happened and he can just pop back up and take Henry as his own? Not in this life.

"Dad, are you going to stay with us today?" Henry looked up at him in question.

Regina stepped up and took Henry by the arm. "Um, Henry, why don't we go get you something from the gift shop. What do you say?"

"Okay!" He followed after her. Regina looked back at Emma who had a shade of terror spread across her face. The brunette gave her a reassuring nod and then jogged to catch up with the boy who had run way ahead of her into the gift shop.

The two remaining adults stood a little awkward in front of each other. There was at least three feet between them and Emma wished there was a thousand feet between them. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, her nerves getting the better of her.

"Man, he's gotten so big. What is he now? 10?" Neal asked casually.

"He's 12 actually. But you would know that if you were around." Emma spit out. She really didn't mean to come across that stale, but she couldn't help it. He made her sick.

"Aw, Emma come on. We're going to do this right now? You know why I couldn't be there. My job kept me away." He breathed out.

"For 6 years?" Emma narrowed her eyes at him, her arms tightening around her chest.

"Emma, please." He pleaded.

"No, Neal." She held up a hand to stop him. "You can't just do this to us. You can't just pop up and act like everything is okay. We've moved on Neal. We have a life again." Emma's anger was boiling inside of her. She hated to even look at his face.

"Look, Emma I didn't have a choice. He's my son, you think I didn't want to be there? You think I didn't hate missing everything?"

"You sure didn't act like it. You left. You don't call, you don't write. You really expect me to believe you wanted to be there? You didn't even try." Emma looked around as a few people had shot them some funny looks. Two adults arguing in the middle of a pirate museum was kind of frowned upon. Emma sighed and started out of the museum, Neal right on her heels.

"But I'm here now. What are the odds that we would run into each other? Here, of all places." Neal protested after her.

The sun hit Emma like a brick wall. The inside of the museum was so dark that she forgot it wasn't even noon yet. It wasn't even noon and her day was already in shackles.

"Yeah what are the odds Neal? What are you even doing here?"

"I… I'm flying out in the morning for a business trip." He admitted.

"Oh yeah that's rich. So you show up, and then you leave. Bad habits never die. Great. What am I supposed to tell Henry? Oh wait, I'll just tell him that his father left, again, and I'm really not sure when he'll be back." If Emma wasn't in public she would beat the shit of Neal right now. How dare he do this… again.

"Emma, please! What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to grow up, Neal. And be a father. Did you see the way he looked at you? He has no clue what kind of person you are. But I do." Emma could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, clouding her vision and magnifying the sunlight.

"Emma, that is not fair." He tried to step forward.

"Oh." Emma breathed out, holding her hand out to immediately stop his advance. "What is fair Neal? Because the last time I checked, walking out on the mother of your child is way up there on the list!" She was almost shouting now. She couldn't take it anymore. This was not happening.

"Mom! There you are! Look what Regina got me!" Henry ran up to Emma, and poked her with the plastic hook that now covered his left hand.

"That's nice sweetheart." She bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

Regina slowly approached them, her eyes meeting Emma's to make sure it was safe. From the look she got from the blonde, she knew it wasn't.

"Look, Neal. We have to go."

"Are you coming with us Dad?" Henry butted in, poking the hook around in Neal's stomach.

Emma and Neal exchanged emotionless looks and then Neal slowly squatted down in front of Henry. "Dad's got a lot of work to do, kiddo. Maybe we can catch up another time."

Henry's demeanor immediately went soft. "Okay." He said sadly. "Maybe you could come to one of my basketball games soon." Henry offered.

Neal took a hold of his chin and lifted his head up. "I'll see what I can do kiddo. But for now, I need you to be the man of the house and take care of your mom okay?" Neal forced a smile.

Henry nodded sadly and stood next to his mother.

"Well uh, It was nice to see you Emma." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck, trying to avoid eye contact with the blonde. Emma kept quiet as she kept a hand firmly on Henry.

"It was nice to meet you too, Regina." He eyed the two of them and then took a few steps back away from them. He took one last look down at Henry before finally turning down the dock.

Regina kept a close eye on him and when he was finally gone she looked back at Emma. Her face was so blank, Regina couldn't tell what she could have been thinking.

"Emma…"

"Let's go." Emma interrupted. The blonde started down the dock, Henry close at her heels swinging his hook around. Regina hesitated a moment taking in a deep breath as Emma passed her before taking up step behind the two of them. She suddenly felt like an awkward third wheel. Emma had never really elaborated on what happened between her and Neal. Regina only knew his name and one picture that Henry had shown to her a while back. That was the only way she recognized him. She suddenly realized how Emma must have felt about Daniel. A mix of emotions between fear, and anger, and jealousy, and she didn't like it at all.

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><p>The tiny bed in their room at the inn had never felt so comfortable before. Regina flopped down on the covers, kicking her sandals off and rubbing her sore feet. She was pretty sure she had never walked so much in her life and hoped that tomorrow could be a day of rest. They had already been there over a week and they hadn't stopped since they got there. She needed a spa day or something calming and soothing on her body.<p>

Emma walked solemnly through the door after tucking Henry in, and made her way to the drawers where she had partially unpacked her clothes. Regina sat up on her elbows on the bed and watched her. She could see the blonde's face through the mirror on top of the drawers and her heart sank at the reflection. Today had been rough, what with seeing Neal and all, and then the fact that Henry couldn't stop talking about him, or asking Emma when the next time they would see him was. Regina felt awful for the blonde.

Regina stood up from the bed, despite the lingering pain in her feet and stepped over behind Emma. The blonde was unbuttoning her shirt when she felt the warm hands of the brunette around her waist. Emma stood there a moment, allowing the woman's warmth to break the ice that had formed around her heart. Her head leaned over to on Regina's and they stood there for a moment together.

"I'm so tired of doing things on my own." Emma breathed out, the tears welling up in her eyes. "Is there such a thing as starting over? Because that's all I've ever wanted to do, and it always seems like what happened in the past is always waiting around the corner. Ready to ruin any new thing that comes into my life." Emma wasn't sure what she was trying to say precisely but she needed to say something. She had pushed Neal away so far in her past that he didn't even seem real anymore. And all in a moment he came crashing back down on her. She had to brace herself on the vanity to keep her from falling to the floor.

"I'm so sorry." Regina whispered. She perched her chin on the woman's shoulder and looked into her eyes through the mirror, tears spotting her own chocolate pupils. Emma stared back until she could no longer take it. She spun around and smashed their faces together. She took hold of the older woman's head and pushed harder into her lips, wishing the feeling would numb away her pain. It did somewhat but Emma knew it would never go away completely.

When she finally let go, she pulled herself away, only to close the distance immediately as she wrapped Regina in her arms. Regina went with the flow, holding the woman in her arms. Her skin rose in little bumps around her body as she held the blonde.

"Emma I don't expect things to be perfect. We all have a past that continues to haunt us. But it's when we find someone that makes all that irrelevant that we can start over." She let go of the woman so she could look her in the eyes. Her hands gently brushing the tears off of the blonde's soft skin. "I don't know how to express how much I want to be that person for you, Emma. You were that person for me. You helped me see that there was so much more that I was missing in my life. I was missing you." She wrapped her arms around the blonde once more and they stood there for a long time. The time flew by in an instant for both of them though.

As they fell asleep in each other's arms that night Regina could only wonder what was happening in Emma's mind. She watched the blonde fall asleep and could see the stresses fall away from her face as she fell into her dreams. Regina pushed away a stray curl that had fallen in the blondes face and leaned forward, placing a small kiss on Emma's sleepy lips. She felt a small tear roll down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away. She hated the thought of Emma being in pain. Regina knew she could not be there for Emma in every aspect of her life, but she damn well was going to try. She had never truly realized how much she cared for Emma until this very moment.

She pulled the blonde closer to her and felt her warmth before she could no longer keep her eyes open. She loved Emma Swan, and she would make sure she proved it every day of her life.


	13. Valentine's Day

**Hey! So this is a really quickish chapter.. I realized I hadn't updated in a while so I'm sorry if it's rough I didn't get a chance to really edit it much. Anyways... some smut at the end just fyi.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Valentine's Day<strong>

_Love is in the Air_

Emma smirked as she watched a couple of freshman putting up a poster for the upcoming holiday in the cafeteria while she sat at one of the tables grading a few papers. She figured they were probably part of some student organization that she didn't even know existed. She didn't really get involved much outside of her classroom. She was either too busy grading or making sure she got Henry to his basketball games at the middle school.

"Hey, Ms. Swan!" Joshua, one of her former students, startled her a bit when he came up behind her. She didn't realize how much her attention was on the other students in the room or her paperwork.

"Hey, Josh. What are you still doing here?" She turned and faced him. She could see he was in his basketball uniform and had his duffel bag slung over his shoulders, and she figured Coach Jones had kept them after for an extra practice before their game this weekend. Josh was one of Storybrooke High's best basketball players, and had been since he transferred in from Boston two years ago. As long as Emma had known him, he had always been the ladies' man around school. If he wasn't at basketball practice, he was with a girl.

"I could ask you the same thing." He motioned toward the papers scattered all over the table in front of her.

"I'm just finishing up some grading before I head home for the weekend. Did you need something?" Emma asked turning back to her paperwork and beginning to gather it up around her.

"Uh yeah. I uh… my mom uh… wanted me to give you this." He quickly dug into the bag around his shoulder and pulled out a small box covered in pink wrapping paper and a neat white bow.

"Oh." Emma was shocked a little at the sincerity of the gift. She was skeptical as to whether or not it was really his mom's idea but she didn't want to question it knowing his pride would not allow him to really give her a gift.

"Yeah, it's not a big deal. Just for Valentine's day you know. What's with Valentine's Day anyway? Pretty cheesy if you ask me." He crossed his arms and leaned over onto one leg, obviously trying to look more manly.

"Tell your mom that was very thoughtful of her." Emma began opening the gift but was quickly interrupted by the boy.

"No, don't open it yet. You have to wait till Valentine's day. I mean… that's what she told me to tell you." He played off his obvious nervousness.

"Oh right. I shall obey her wishes then." She winked at him, and his cheeks flushed a bright shade of pink.

"Okay, I'll let you get back to your work now I guess. My mom's probably waiting for me outside. See you on Monday Ms. Swan" Josh slung his bag farther on his shoulder and hurried out of the cafeteria giving a shy wave as he did.

Emma waved and laughed a little as she turned back to her paperwork. After staring at the papers scattered around her for a few minutes, she decided that her brain power had depleted too far for her to do any more work. Somehow this past week had been incredibly busy, and she had been running on fumes since Wednesday. It seemed like the only thing getting her through the day was knowing she'd be able to see Regina.

Unfortunately, today she hadn't seen her principal at all, which was strange. Usually Regina made a point to come by her room sometime during the day, but today she didn't. Emma had thought about sending her a text to see if she was okay, but figured she was just busy so she didn't worry about it. Maybe when she got her stuff all together to go home she would drop by her office and check in with her.

Emma dropped all of her paperwork into her bag, along with Josh's present and headed out of the cafeteria. She pulled out her phone to check if she had any messages from Regina or Henry, but her screen was empty just like it had been all day. As she turned the corner, she had no time to react before she smacked right into a heavy body, her phone flipping out of her hands and onto the floor along with herself and her bag.

"Emma! I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

Emma looked up from her newly found seat of the floor and saw Coach Jones standing over her, a slick smile across his face as he was probably trying to hold back a laugh.

He reached out for her arm and helped her up from the floor. "I didn't even hear you walking." He bent down to pick up her bag and phone and quickly handed them to her.

"It's fine, I was checking my phone so I wasn't paying attention." Emma's cheeks flushed as she dusted off her pants and took her belongings from him.

"I'm really sorry." He said again. She slipped her phone into her bag and thinly smiled back at him.

"It's fine really." They stood there awkwardly for a moment before Emma finally broke the silence.

"Well I better get going, I have to go pick up my son from practice." She started to walk past him but stopped when the Coach continued the conversation. Emma let out a slight sigh.

"Henry, right? Your son? I hear he's turning into quite a star there at the middle school. I'm excited to get him on the team next year." Coach Jones smiled real big, and Emma couldn't help but find him very attractive. His tight shirt defined all of his muscles and his sweatpants were the perfect length, finished off by a new pair of trainers.

"Yeah he's pretty excited I think. Basketball is almost all he talks about now." She admitted. She was getting anxious to go find Regina.

"Well I'm sorry again. Keep me updated on the little man. Maybe we can get some coffee sometime and talk some more?" Emma felt a sinking feeling in her chest. She didn't know how to break it to the guy that she was very taken in that aspect of her life. There was no real way to drop it on him softly so she came up with the best she could think of on the spot.

"I'll have to check with Regina to see if we are busy. Maybe we can all have lunch one day." She smiled apologetically.

"Oh." He sounded a bit shocked and disappointed all at once. "Sure, that might be good."

"Alright. Have a good weekend." Emma waved and hurried away into the office before he could say anything else to her.

When she reached the front office, Ruby was already gone as usual. She headed back into the back hallway towards Regina's office, but when she knocked, she got no response. She tried the door knob but it was locked. Surely she didn't leave without saying anything or even shooting her a text. Something was weird about all this and Emma's nervousness was slowly growing. She could feel her heart overreacting already and her chest felt heavy.

She pulled her phone out of her bag and quickly found Regina's name in her contacts. She didn't have to wait long before she heard Regina's voice, but it was only the recording of her voicemail. Emma hung up and quickly clicked her name again, this time it went immediately to voicemail.

"What the hell?" Emma whispered to herself. She tried to tell herself not to get too worked up about it and to just send her a text message. Maybe once Emma got home and got Henry, she would try and call her again.

Emma frustratingly threw her phone in the seat next to her. "Does nobody know how to answer their damn phones anymore?" She shouted to her steering wheel after she hung up for the third time trying to call Henry. First Regina didn't answer and now Henry didn't answer? What was this, the apocalypse? She had gone by Henry's school to pick him up, but he wasn't there. She tried to convince herself he went home with a friend and his phone was dead so he couldn't call.

She fumbled with her keys as she took every other step leading to her apartment. By the time she had reached her door, she was practically fuming and out of breath. She suddenly had the urge to just bust through the door to let some of her anger out since the throwing-your-phone-across-the-room lifeline had already been used.

It was almost dark outside when she finally fidgeted the key enough in the lock for the door to open. Her apartment was strangely dark considering the sun was just setting and there was usually a little light coming through the window. She walked in and dropped her bags with a heavy thud on the floor next to her. After a couple stubbed toes and a bruised hip, she found the light switch and turned it on.

Her mouth dropped open almost instantly when the room lit up. Filling her apartment were strings of pictures, which after further study, were of her and Henry and Regina from both their past and present relationship. There were flowers on almost every table she could see. Everything from red roses to blue tulips, to yellow and pink daisy's. Her eyes lingered on everything she could see. She almost forgot that she could walk, and when she finally did regain her ability to move she took a few steps out of the living room and headed down the hall. There were rose petals leading down the hall, past Henry's room and to her bedroom where the door was closed.

When she reached the door, she stood staring at it for a moment. There was a note taped to the door, folded once and her name neatly drawn on the front in a handwriting that was strangely familiar to her. She hesitated before pulling it off the door and opening it up.

Inside were written two short words. _Come in._

Her body rocked with heat as her heart pumped a million miles an hour. What is this? What is happening? She was having a heart attack, that much was for sure. Did she remember how to open a door? Should she knock? Did she remember how to knock? So many things were running through her head that she almost forgot about what could be waiting for her behind door number one.

The door knob was like ice in her hand, and she used every nerve inside of her to open it. The sweet smell of apple and cinnamon overwhelmed her senses as she took the first step into the candle lit room. To her disappointment there was nobody. The rose petals had stopped just at the edge of her bed which was made perfectly. Candles were set on her bedside table, and scattered around the room, but still nobody, no Regina.

She hesitantly took a few more steps inside, her heart pounding through her ears. The blood rushed to her forehead like a river and she felt her head become dizzy. Her clothes bit at her skin and she wanted to just rip them off.

Suddenly, she heard the familiar clicking of heels coming from her bathroom. And what emerged nearly sent Emma over the edge right then and there.

Standing in all her glory in nothing but her black stilettos and a very small silk black robe was Regina. Her hair was curled just above her shoulders, and those legs... God those legs. Emma's round blue eyes bulged out of her head at the site, and she thought she would never be able to find her jaw which had rocketed to the floor.

"Happy Valentine's Day." The woman's voice was low and intoxicating to the blonde. Emma was frozen. Literally, frozen where she stood. She didn't know whether to speak or move or rip her own clothes off, or rip that ridiculous robe off that woman's body.

"Ms. Swan, I do believe I have rendered you speechless." Regina started toward Emma, and Emma could feel herself moving backward, unable to control her movements any longer. Her mouth tried to form words but there was nothing left. When she felt the familiar softness of the bed behind her knees she froze once more.

Regina continued her drawn out approach, fingering her robe the closer the got. Emma's eyes wondered up and down the woman's body not knowing what to look at. There was too much to look at. Too much to even begin to have.

Regina stopped about two inches from Emma, causing the woman to sit back onto the bed. Regina smiled devilishly looking down at the woman beneath her. Emma struggled with her response. Take her right now? Wait and see what happens? Rip the robe from her body? So many options.

"Those clothes look rather uncomfortable." Regina's deep voice was like heaven through Emma's ears. Emma immediately began taking her shirt off, but Regina quickly interrupted her by placing her hands on the blondes shoulders. Emma stopped, her stomach half showing below her shirt and she looked up at Regina puzzled. She put her hands down, allowing Regina to take control.

"Allow me." Regina bent down, her robe falling from her chest just enough for Emma to try and peak down. Their faces became so close their lips were practically touching. Emma wanted to close the distance terribly, but the feeling of the woman's warm fingers curling under her shirt distracted her. Emma felt her shirt slowly rising over her body. Regina smiled at the lack of control the other woman had over the situation.

The brunette finally pulled the shirt over Emma's head and it fell to the floor at their feet. Emma sucked in the air as her body immediately reacted to Regina's exploring hands.

Regina leaned in close allowing their lips to touch ever so gently. The weight of the woman's body leaned Emma back on the bed, their lips testing each other. Every ounce of Emma wanted to take control of this situation but she wanted to see what Regina was doing. The brunette's lips worked their way down Emma's neck, ever so gently kissing the skin causing it to crawl. Emma felt her lips all the way down to her belt line. Emma almost hated herself for even wearing pants today. She was so ready. No pants would have just made this much easier.

Emma picked her head up from the bed, her eyes meeting Regina's as the dark haired woman looked up at her while she slowly pulled her belt from the loops of her jeans. There was a fire behind her brown pools and Emma liked it. Her head fell back as she felt more of the woman's mouth on her skin, her back raising to increase the pressure. This teasing was going to drive her insane. She just wanted that black robe off already.

God, this woman. Regina unbutton the blonde's jeans and pulled them off leaving Emma in only her black underwear. At least she wore good underwear today. Emma raised herself to her elbows to meet Regina's face as the older woman climbed on top of her. Their intensity no longer able to stay inside them. Their bodies rocked with the pressure of each other. Their skin static as they moved their bodies in unison. Emma could no longer stand looking at that black robe and Regina allowed her to pull it from her body, exposing every inch of her skin. Emma paused, taking in the smooth olive skin that connected with hers. She had never seen so much beauty in her life.

Regina took control again as her body slid down Emma's torso, leading to her core. The core that ached for Regina more than anything else, and Regina knew all too well how to please Emma the right way. She pulled her underwear down the length of her legs, and quickly fell back on top when they were off.

Emma's jaw fell open and she let out a strained moan as the other woman teased her core. Emma's fists dug at the bed beneath her, struggling to hold herself together. Regina's tongue was more than capable of sending her over the edge, but Regina knew all too well that Emma liked to be teased. Her mouth danced around the opening between Emma's legs making sure the blonde knew she was no longer in control. Regina controlled her now.

Emma could feel her reflexes pushing on Regina. She had never felt more needy in her life. The need for Regina to finish her, for her to hit her peak, for Regina to touch her.

"Regina." Emma strained to keep it all inside. Shouting was not normally her thing but she was beyond her limit.

Emma lost it when she felt Regina push inside of her. She had never felt anything like it before. Of all the times her and Regina had been together, this was by far the most intense. Her body moved with the dance of Regina inside of her. She felt every inch the woman was exploring and she had lost control of her body.

Regina moved with the sway of Emma's hips, playing with her, moving in unison. She could hear the stress in the blonde's voice as she moaned out, knowing that she was close. Regina reached up to Emma's hips, pulling her closer to her, pushing deeper inside of her. Emma's hips arched up as she could no longer hold it in. It was a sweet release and Regina took in all that was Emma.

When Regina raised herself back on top of the blonde she worked her lips up to the blonde's neck. She could taste the sweat rolling over Emma's skin, and smiled at how worked up Emma had gotten. She felt the heavy breathes in the woman's chest underneath her and she connected her lips to the swollen ones below.

Emma smiled up at the woman straddling her as she felt the heat between the woman's legs. With a quick swoop she flipped the woman over and bent low to her, pecking her lips and then moving her mouth to the woman's ears.

"My turn." Emma breathed heavily. She felt the woman underneath her immediately respond with the rise of her hips, calling for Emma to satisfy her. Regina devilishly smiled at the woman now on top of her. She could still feel the lingering wetness from Emma on her legs, her own growing between hers.

Emma slid her hand down between Regina, the woman immediately bucking up at the feeling between her legs. Emma knew what Regina liked. She didn't like to be teased, though Emma had fun teasing her anyway.

Regina let out a raspy moan, and Emma circled her entrance with her fingers. Emma herself could not take her own teasing and suddenly forced her fingers into Regina. The older woman unable to contain the feeling, let out a heavy moan. It was almost a scream, and Emma pushed deeper. She curled her fingers in just the right spot causing Regina to suck in a bite of air in her lungs. The blonde moved her hips with her fingers, creating a rhythm between the two of them.

Emma sensed Regina was close by the way her back arched into her own body. She pulled her fingers from Regina just before she peaked, and immediately replaced them with her tongue, finishing her off with the swift flick inside. Regina dug at the blankets as her body rocked with their passion. Emma kissed her path up to Regina's lips and continued to control them. They moaned into each other until Emma, finally defeated, fell over next to Regina.

Their heavy breathes took up the silence of the room. Emma's body almost shook at the feelings inside of her. Even her own release could not curb the way her body constantly ached for Regina's touch. Emma wondered how she survived all those months without her. She didn't know how, but she knew now that she could never live without her again.

She felt Regina roll over, and their legs intertwined as the woman buried her face in the blonde's neck.

"I love you, Emma." Regina whispered. Emma smiled as her eyes closed and she fell asleep to the rhythm of Regina's breath on her skin.

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><p><strong>PS: Prepare your hearts for the next chapter. It's about to get rough. <strong>


	14. Accidents Happen

**I just couldn't wait. Please don't hate me. **

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><p><strong>Accidents Happen<strong>

As Emma sat at her desk in her now empty classroom the white walls around her made her wonder where the time had gone. This time last year she thought her life would never be the same because she had lost so much. And now, a year later she felt like she couldn't be happier. She had her son, and after one more summer he would be joining her at the high school, and then she would have both people she cared about so deeply under the same roof as her nearly 24/7. There really could be nothing that could bring her down.

Emma played with a small square box between her fingers that lay lonely on the top of her desk. The smile of her face was permanent as she twisted it around in front of her. The felt material tickled her skin, and when she opened the box, her eyes widened as the diamond sparkled. The little mini heart attack every time she thought about the idea of possibly spending the rest of her life with Regina was something she never thought she would ever feel again. Henry loved Regina, she loved Regina, and the little family Emma still had left loved her too.

She jumped at the feeling of her cell phone vibrating in her pocket and she fully expected to see Regina's name on the screen, who was probably wondering where she was. Emma had spent far too much time packing up her room, and she was supposed to meet Regina and Henry at Granny's for an end of the school party with some of their friends almost an hour ago. She frowned at the unknown number on her screen, but she answered it anyway as she picked up her bags.

"Hello?" She answered firmly in her professional voice.

"Emma, it's Graham." He sounded breathless and rushed.

"Graham?" Emma stuck the box in her jacket pocket as her heart started to race. Graham had never called her with good news, or rarely called her at all for that matter, and her heart pounded at the crazy thoughts that began racking her brain. Did Henry do something? Is he in trouble? Is he okay? She couldn't take the silence over the phone.

"Graham, what's wrong?" Emma searched frantically for her keys, preparing for the worst.

"Um…" He hesitated.

She shot back at him quickly when he didn't answer her question. "Graham. You tell me what happened right now, or so help me I will…."

"There has been an accident. There was a drunk driver, and it all happened so fast." Graham's words were short like he was trying to hide a secret.

"An accident? What kind of accident?" Emma was out her door faster than she thought she could move, her bags left in the middle of her classroom. Her lungs burned as background noise filled the space between her and her phone. She called out to Graham for more answers but he sounded like he was shouting at someone else on the other side of the phone. She picked up small pieces of what he was saying, but nothing that would help her figure out what the hell was going on. Her breath hitched as she started up her bug and peeled out of the school parking lot. She didn't know where she was going, but she had to go.

"We got them to the hospital as fast as we could but the doctors have not come back out." Graham sounded so rushed and flustered.

"Them?" Emma could feel the tears already running down her cheeks as her entire being began to melt from the inside out.

Then she heard their names. "Regina and… Henry."

The phone fell out of her hands and collapsed to the floor at her feet. She could hear the faint call of Graham's voice from the speakers but the words were not processing.

_Emma? EMMA! Shit…_

This was not happening, not now, not ever. No, this was not how this was supposed to be. What kind of karma is this? What did she ever do for this to happen? In a split second her world was rocked into a million tiny pieces. She knew now why Graham was so hesitant. She was becoming hysterical. She screamed at her windshield, cursing the world and its unwarranted grudge against her.

She hardly had time to put her car in park as it skid to a halt in front of the hospital doors and she busted through frantically searching for them.

"Regina!" She called out. "Henry?" Her tears blurred her vision and the form of the nurse approaching her. "Graham!" She saw him down at the end of the hallway and she took off toward him, leaving the nurse sitting at the entrance speechless.

"Where are they?" She ran to him, and tried to pass him for the double doors that led to the rooms behind him but he stopped her.

"Emma. You can't go back there yet. They are in surgery."

"Surgery?! Oh my god." She felt her throat close off and she struggled through every breath inside of her.

"What… happened? Graham please tell me they are okay." She swallowed hard between her words and tears and she could feel her legs become like Jell-O. She was sure the only thing holding her up was Graham's grip around her arms. As her eyes cleared between swells of tears she could see the blood that spotted his tan uniform and a cut that followed his jaw line and it made her sick to her stomach. Who's blood is that? Henry's? Regina's? His? She needed answers.

"There was a drunk driver. I don't know who, but they collided at a stop light. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Regina sustained most of the injuries. As far as I could tell, Henry only had a few deep cuts from the shattered glass. They just need to remove the shards and get him some stitches. I'm not sure about Regina. They got her out while I was with Henry and I couldn't see her." Graham tried to explain as Emma tried to squirm from his grip. Her face was littered with wetness as she couldn't control herself. "The driver was brought here shortly after I got here with Henry."

She suddenly stopped, sucking in a small grasp of breath and her face fell emotionless realizing that someone was responsible for this. "I'll kill him. Where is he?" She started looking around frantically and after pushing herself from Graham's grip she ran over to the nurses station nearest to them.

"You! What room is he in?" She slammed her hand down on the desk and the nurse jumped back, scared from the approach of the uncontrollable blonde.

"I'm sorry Miss I don't know who…"

"Where is he!" She screamed, interrupting the woman, and reached over the counter and started grabbing papers from the station below, hoping to find something, anything, that she could use to find him. Graham immediately wrapped his arms around her and pulled her over to the wall. He forced her to sit down on a bench and held her down.

"Emma, if you don't calm down you will leave me no choice but to handcuff you to this bench." Graham said as calmly as he could, struggling under her thrashing.

"I swear to god Graham if something happens to her, I will personally put a bullet in his head." She shouted through tears. When she heard the clicking sound and the cold metal around her wrist she immediately stopped and looked down at her right hand. It had be connected to the leg of the bench by Grahams handcuffs. She looked back up at Graham with a face of both disgust and innocence. Graham rubbed the scruff on his face, wincing as he bumped the cut on his chin, trying to decide what his next move was.

"Emma, I will let you go when you calm down." He stated calmly. "Now you know I will do everything in my power to put that man behind bars for what he has done. But right now, I need to make sure we have a body to put in prison. Okay? As much as you think he deserves to die, and as much as I agree with you, he still has to be given a chance. You cannot get involved in this, Emma."

She tried to raise herself to her feet, but the handcuffs were too short and she fell back, sliding off the edge of the bench onto the floor. Any and all control that she thought she had left was gone. The flood gates had opened, her body numb to the coldness around her. Her hands fell open in surrender, the handcuffs clicking on the metal of the bench.

"Why me?" She managed pathetically through her shallow breaths.

Graham squatted and took Emma's head in his hands and pulled her to his chest. He placed a kiss on her top of her head and let her cry. He struggled at holding back a few tears himself as one escaped and ran down his rough cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Emma. I'm so sorry."

She cried like she had never cried before in her life, and all that had been built up just poured out of her. Graham's pressure only made her cry harder. He assured her Henry would be okay, but as for Regina, that was another story since neither of them really knew the extent of her damage. Nobody could give her the answers she wanted. The answers she needed. She needed to know they were going to be okay.

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><p>Soon after Graham had cuffed Emma to the bench he unlocked her. He knew she wasn't dangerous and the impact of the news was what drove her to overreact. She reacted just as anyone in her position would have. Learning within minutes that both her girlfriend and her son were in critical condition after a car accident is not something Graham would have expected her to take well.<p>

After restlessly sitting around the hospital for god knows how long, Dr. Whale, the leading physician at the hospital, came through the double doors and headed in their direction. They both looked at him expectantly but he asked for Graham to come with him… alone. Emma immediately protested but after Graham went for his cuffs, she huffed and turned to go back down one of the hallways.

Graham was worried about what the doctor could have to tell him that Emma couldn't hear. He wanted Emma to be able to see her son and Regina as much as anyone, but he also needed to figure out what happened without interruption.

"The surgeries were fairly successful." Dr. Whale started. "Regina has sustained major brain trauma and after talking with a few of my colleagues , we have come to the conclusion that she will live, but she will not be the same. The swelling on her brain is still too high to really give us any clear answers, and as far as I can see… I'm afraid her long term memory will be gone. She may see things in flashes but as far as remembering who she was before she wakes up, there is a very low chance."

Graham let out a deep long breath. "How low?" He wiped the exhaustion from his face. There was only so much bad news one person can take in one day.

"It's hard to set a number to it, but if I had to guess, I'd say she will only remember about 10-15% of her past memories. Most of them probably only from her childhood, since that part of our lives is stored so much more deeper in our brains. Honestly, sheriff, we will be lucky if she can remember her name when she wakes up."

"And what of the boy?"

"The boy will be fine. He will have a scar above his right eye and a few lingering bruises, but as far as any permanent damage, there is none. We'll keep him here for a few days for observation and then he'll be free to go." Dr. Whale sighed and placed his hands on his hips, his head falling to the floor.

"What about the drunk driver?" Graham questioned again.

"We are unsure whether he will make it or not. He was not wearing his seat belt, and the force of the impact sent him partially through his windshield. If he doesn't make it, it will be from blood loss and internal bleeding. We are still working to try and stop it, but it's going to be difficult. But there is one other problem."

"What?" Graham looked up at him concerned.

"We initially couldn't identify the body because he was so cut up. But after running his DNA…" The doctor paused, and he looked like he was unable to keep the secret. "It's Daniel."

Graham froze, unable to process what he had just heard. "Daniel? As in Regina's ex-husband Daniel?" Graham finally questioned after trying to wrap his brain around the news.

The doctors silence was all the answer he needed.

"Holy shit." Graham bent over, gripping onto his knees like he was going to hurl. His stomach turned and he was sure he was going to be sick. After everything that he had been through with Daniel, this was the last thing he thought he was capable of doing. Come to think of it, he hadn't even heard from the man since Christmas, and now this.

"What should I tell Emma?" Graham asked straightening up, fully aware that he needed to relay all of this information to the distraught woman outside.

"I would advise that we hold off on giving her any information until we are certain. Henry is fine, that much is for certain. I need more time with Regina. As for Daniel, well I'll leave that to your better judgment." The doctor struggled through his words. This was a small town where everyone knew everyone. When something like this happened it effected everybody, and the doctor was not immune to his emotions.

"Thank you Doctor Whale." Graham patted him on his shoulder and then with a heavy breath made his way back to the double doors. He struggled with the information, knowing that Emma would most likely be bombarding him with questions soon enough.

"Sheriff." The doctor called out before Graham made it through the doors.

"You know I'm going to do everything I can."

"I know you will. Come get me when Daniel wakes up. I'd like to have a few words with him." And with that he disappeared through the doors. He looked down the hallways near him, but the blonde was nowhere to be found. He walked up to the nurses station and before he could ask his question, the nurse pointed knowingly down a hallway near them. He thanked her and took a few quick steps in that direction, unsure of what she was doing, but by the sound of her kicking the vending machine he figured she couldn't be getting into too much trouble yet.

She had found the break room and sounded like she was struggling to get something to drink. Graham walked up next to her as she kicked at the machine again.

"Damn it…" She whispered.

"You okay, Swan?" Graham approached hesitantly.

"No. Damn vending machine took my change." She crossed her arms in a huff. She pinched the bridge of her nose curbing the urge to start crying again.

"Here, let me try." Graham stepped up next to her and slipped in a few coins. He pushed the buttons and a water bottle fell from its line in the machine.

"Thank you." She said pulling it out of the drop bin. She opened it up and took a small swig, just enough to wet her lips.

"What did the doctor say?" The question finally surfaced. She almost didn't want to know for fear that she would find out what she had convinced herself could not be possible. That Regina was not okay. And Henry. God, if something happened to him, she would never be able to function. It would be like her whole purpose for living would be gone. Everything would become worthless. Including the life that stole them from her.

"Uh, well the good news is, Henry will be okay. Couple of bruises, and he'll have a nice scar on his eyebrow but nothing serious. I'm sure it will go over well with the ladies once he gets older." Graham stopped not wanting to rush what he was told about Regina. He knew she would not take it well and he hated to see Emma so upset. The information he was carrying was not light by any means, and knowing Emma's history with Daniel, he had convinced himself that he would hold off dropping that bomb.

"And… what about Regina?" Emma forced the question, staring down at the water bottle in her hands.

Graham let out a heavy sigh, resting his hands on his hips. "The doctors are still trying to determine the extent of her injuries."

Emma closed her eyes to the blow. She wasn't stupid. She knew that Graham wasn't telling her everything, but she didn't press the matter because deep down she really didn't want to know. She wasn't ready to know.

Graham could tell she was exhausted. "Are you going to be okay, Swan? Maybe you should go home and rest or something. Come back tomorrow. I'm sure Granny would be willing to make you something to eat if you stopped off at the diner." He could see the dark circles under her eyes and her skin had lost any kind of lively color. She was almost grey sitting in the dimly lit break room.

"No. I'm fine. I'm not that hungry and I need to be here if something happens." She responded softly starting out of the break room. She caught the sight of the blood again on his shoulder and pictured him holding Henry next to him at the scene. She felt sick to her stomach as the picture became so real in her mind. She hated that something that seemed so impossible could feel so real.

"I can call you if anything comes up." Graham offered again. Anything to hopefully alleviate her stress. But he knew that was probably impossible.

"No." She answered shortly. There was really nothing else she could say. She had to be there. For her son. For Regina. She couldn't miss anything. All she wanted was the answers nobody could give her, and that was that everything would be okay. Her life had fallen into a million pieces within a matter of seconds and the only thing left to do was try and rebuild. She couldn't go home. It wouldn't feel right. Home was were the people she loved were, and right now it was this hospital. Their house would feel like a prison compared to this place.

She made her way back to the bench where Graham had handcuffed her when she first arrived. She sat down slowly, squeezing the water bottle in her hands between her knees feeling her body become small and shrunken. She felt the tears welling up again. She was surprised that she still had tears left to shed after this afternoon. Her thoughts were interrupted when Graham's radio looped around his shoulder came to life next to her.

_Sheriff Graham, please come in._

"What is it, Billy?" He answered casually back.

_We got a possible 215 down on 6th street._

"Where's Officer Phillip?"

_He's out on a 415._

Graham sighed. "Copy that, I'll be there as soon as I can."

He rested his hands on his hips and sighed. He was hesitant to leave Emma behind in her state. He knew she was harmless, but he had seen grief drive even the sanest of people insane.

"Are you going to be okay if I go?" Graham asked looking down at Emma.

"Just peachy." She answered as if she was talking to her water bottle.

"I won't be gone long. It's probably just a couple of kids messing around outside of town. Should take maybe an hour tops."

"I'll be a good girl. Promise." Emma imitated crossing her fingers over her heart.

"Call me if you need anything?" Graham offered. Emma remained silent to his question.

"Please, Emma." He spoke again.

"I will." Her voiced raised a little as she looked up at him, her eyes red from crying.

He pulled his hand through his hair as he back away from her. After a few steps he finally turned down the hall and headed out. She listened to his boots echo on the linoleum floor until he was gone.

She dropped her head into her hands, sniffing her running nose and pushing a frayed hair behind her ear. This was not where she expected herself to be only hours before. She stopped her fidgeting and remembered the item in her pocket, quickly digging it out and holding the felt box out in her hand, seeing it through blurry eyes. She hadn't planned on a date yet to use it, but she knew it would have been soon. Now she wasn't even sure if the chance would come for her to officially make Regina a part of her life. She held the box up to her lips and a tear fell from her cheek onto the lid. Her body fell to the side across the bench and she pulled her knees close, her body shaking as she cried. She clung to the box and the fleeting hope that life after this would be anything but normal.

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><p><strong>:O! <strong>


	15. Regina

**Crazy times! Thanks for everyone who is reading. And thank you for all the comments. I hope everyone is enjoying it so far. I know I hit you with a rough chapter last time and it's gunna be rough for a little while. Especially for Emma. As always I love hearing from you guys!**

**Enjoy.**

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><p><span><strong>Regina<strong>

"When are they going to let me out of here?" Henry heaved out a bored sigh and fell back heavily onto his pillow.

Emma shuffled the deck of cards they found in the room, sitting cross legged at the end of his hospital bed and smiled up at Henry. "I promise we are going home soon, kid. We have to make sure you didn't damage that big ole head of yours too bad." Emma tried to keep the mood light, knowing that deep down she still was unsure of how everything was going to play out. She reached out and ruffled his hair. He pushed her hand away and fixed his hair back to the way it's previously still messy state.

They still had not let her in to see Regina despite her constant bombardment of questions for every nurse that came in to check on Henry. She made sure to give them hell for it, but there was nothing much they could do. She was still considered in "critical condition" and was not allowed to have visitors. Emma desperately needed to see her.

Graham had been in and out for the last two days. He made sure to bring Emma food from Granny's and even brought her a fresh pair of clothes from her apartment, which Red was instructed to retrieve. Emma had been sleeping in Henry's hospital room since they let her in two days ago. All things considered, he seemed like he was going to be fine. There was a pretty big cut across his eyebrow just above his left eye and besides a few bruises, everything seemed to be pretty normal.

Emma pulled herself off the bed and her cold bare feet met the floor. She shivered from the sudden change in temperature. Henry fiddled with his IV's and looked over at his mother now seated on her bed/couch.

"Is Regina going to be okay?" He asked out of the blue. Emma's eyes darted toward him, and she felt a terrible sinking feeling in her chest. She tried to swallow the knot that had formed in her throat.

She sat up on the edge of the seat, crossing her hands on her knees. "Well, the doctors haven't really given me much information. They are still running some tests. I'm sure today or tomorrow we will be able to go see her." Emma didn't want to depress Henry with any more bad news. She figured he could take some better news for a while. At least until all of this just became a memory.

"I just… feel kind of bad." Henry's voice dropped.

"Why would you feel bad? It was an accident." Emma assured him.

"Yeah, but… idk." He leaned his head back on the pillow, staring straight out at the white wall across from him.

"Henry, look, none of this is your fault if that's what you are trying to say. This kind of thing happens. There isn't much we can do. Regina is in good hands, so are you, and we are going to get through this. Together." Emma reached out and grabbed a hold of Henry's hand, squeezing it hard in her own.

Graham popped his head into the room and startled both of them. "Hey! There's the man. Still alive and kicking I see." Graham announced as he stepped into the room. Henry sat up straighter and smiled as the man walked in. Emma released Henry's hand and gave Graham a stern look, not appreciating his particular choice in humor.

"Guess what I brought you?" Graham stepped up to the bed, his arm behind his back. Emma eyed him, curious as to what he could be hiding. When the orange basketball emerged from behind Graham's back, Henry's face immediately perked up, and Emma smiled shaking her head. That boy was going to burn out of basketball before this year was up.

"Thanks, Graham!" Henry tossed the ball up in the air like he was shooting a basket and then caught it in his lap.

"Yeah, you know since you missed going to your camp this weekend, I figured this would help lift the spirits." Graham smiled as his eyes wondered toward Emma.

"I got you something too." He made his way around the bed and sat next to Emma. She sat up as he handed her a paper bag.

"Smells like Granny's famous lasagna." Emma smiled a little eyeing the warm bag in her hands.

"Yeah, she practically forced me to bring it to you. She knows you are not eating enough." He rubbed his hand through his scruff on his cheeks.

"Thanks." She said, happy to have the extra food, and set the bag on the seat next to her.

Emma and Graham watched as Henry became immersed in trying to spin his new basketball on the tips of his fingers.

"You know, I'll be happy to stay with the boy if you need to take a break. I told Phillip to cover all my calls today. You really should sleep in a real bed." Graham offered his help, just as he had done every day he had been by to finish. Emma really did appreciate the offer, but she wouldn't risk not being here and missing news about Regina.

"Thanks, Graham. But really I'm fine. I need to stay here. I have to be here if something happens." She forced a small smile his way. He sighed, defeated, and then rose from his seat.

"Well you two have fun. I told Mrs. Newman down the hall that I would bring her a piece of pie from Granny's. I shouldn't keep her waiting, she may not have much time to waste." He smiled and tapped his watch.

Emma rolled her eyes at his humor. Usually she would probably let out a small laugh at his jokes, but she was really just not in the mood for laughing.

"Thanks for the ball, Graham." Henry waved as the Sheriff made his way out into the hallway, awkwardly dodging one of the nurses turning the corner. Henry stopped tossing the ball and let it fall into his lap between his legs. She watched him as his features seemed to have perked back up with the distraction of his basketball. Emma hated to see him down, and she wanted so much to make him happy, but she could tell the wreck was still haunting him.

"Hey, Graham. Wait up." Emma glanced over at Henry as she left the room after the sheriff.

Graham stopped mid stride and turned back toward Emma.

"I, uh… just wanted to uh… thank you. You know for Henry. If you hadn't of been there, well, it could have been much worse. So thank you. I owe you a lot." She glanced up at his eyes and then turned to look at Henry who was happily tossing his new basketball up and down.

"You don't have to thank me for doing my job, Emma." He looked down at her.

"Yeah, yeah I do. This whole thing with him, and… Regina…" She swallowed hard and pulled her hand through her hair uneasily. "It's been rough, and you have been so great with everything." She admitted.

"Emma if you need anything, you know you can come to me."

"Yeah, I know." She raised the corner of her lips and pushed her hair behind her ears. He smiled back at her thinly, and as quickly as she came she headed back into Henry's room. He knew how much she was hurting. It was the same hurt he felt when he lost his parents when he was just a boy. The same hurt he saw in people who had lost loved ones or were waiting to hear the news. He felt terrible for Emma. He wished he could tell her everything he knew, but knew she couldn't take that kind of hit. Not now. Not yet.

"You think they'll still let me on the team at school?" Henry asked eyeing his ball as Emma made herself sort of comfortable once again on the couch next to his bed.

"What do you mean?" Emma raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well you know, I'm injured and all."

"Kid, you just got a few cuts and bruises. I think you will be fine. Besides Coach Jones is excited to have you on the team. He says he's been watching you play at the middle school. You'll probably already be a starter when you get there next year. And guess who will get to come to all your games and embarrass you? Me!" She smiled pointing to herself.

"Oh my god, please mom no. I'll already be a dork as a freshman, I don't need any more problems on my back."

"So now your mother is a problem?" Emma sat back, playfully pouting and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Mom, of course not. You know what I meant." He tilted his head toward her.

"I know, kid. Like mother like son." She smiled at her own compliment.

He rolled his eyes and laughed a little. It was nice to see him smile. They had been constantly busy for so long that Emma hadn't really got to spend much quality time with Henry. It was nice to just sit around and talk, even if it was in the white walled room of the hospital.

That night Emma abruptly woke up, the darkness of the room sitting heavily over her. She sat up and rubbed her eyes as they adjusted to the small light coming from underneath the door. Henry shifted under his sheets as Emma raised herself from the couch and made her way to the door. She opened it as quiet as possible and closing it behind her when she was in the hallway she looked around for anyone else who may have caught the insomnia bug.

She yawned, stretching her arms high above her head causing her white tank top to lift above her stomach. The cold air hitting her skin gave her goose bumps and she crossed her arms around her chest as she squinted down the hallway. She needed to stretch her legs. Graham was right, she needed to sleep in a real bed. But not yet. She had to wait. She needed to be here in case something happened.

The hallways were bright considering how dark it was outside. She stopped and looked out one of the windows, realizing just how little light the town let off into the sky. It almost looked like she was in the middle of nowhere.

She found a nurses station around the corner and stepped up to the counter where a red headed nurse was quietly scribbling away on some paperwork.

"Hey." Emma leaned over on top of the counter. The nurse's whole body jolted in surprise and she let out a small gasp as she was so involved in her work that she didn't hear or expect anyone to be wondering the halls at this hour.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Emma apologized, holding back a small giggle.

The nurse smiled as she collected herself. "It's quite alright. I'm not used to anybody walking around in the middle of the night. Do you need something?" She looked at Emma concerned, noticing how tired she looked.

"Do yall have a break room or something? I could really use some coffee." Emma said sleepily, yawning at the end of her words.

"Yeah if you go straight here, and turn left, it will be the first door on the left. I just made a fresh pot not too long ago so it should still be warm." The nurse smiled again. The phone rang between them and the nurse quickly answered it.

Emma mouthed a "thank you" and then headed down the hallway in the direction she was pointed.

_Regina Mills? She is O negative._

Emma's ears perked up at Regina's name just before she rounded the corner to the next hall. She froze and pressed her back up onto the wall where the nurse couldn't see her and continued to listen to the conversation.

_No, they gave her two at lunch and then she should be on another one tonight. Yes. Yes. No, her chart indicates the levels have increased slightly, but not enough to be taken off. No. I'll tell the doctor when he gets here in the morning. Okay. Thank you._

Emma's heart raced in her chest as she stood paralyzed by the conversation. She felt her body get heavier as she leaned up against the wall soaking in the words. What was all this secrecy around Regina? She didn't understand why the doctors just couldn't tell her anything. She had learned more about Regina in that phone conversation than she had in three days.

After she got her coffee she decided to head back to the nurses station and maybe gain some more information about Regina. At this point, she hadn't even been told what room she was in, so Emma figured she would give it a try.

"Hey, can I ask you another question?" Emma pulled her arms closer to her, the steam from the coffee cup tickling her nose.

"Sure." The nurse said enthusiastically.

"Would you be able to tell me what room Regina Mills is in?" Emma threw the question out.

"Yeah. Are you family?" The nurse asked.

"Well… sort of. We are together." Emma answered.

"Oh." The nurse eyed her. "Well I'm afraid we can't give out any information unless you are a relative or an emergency contact."

"Well, she doesn't really have any family left. I'm pretty much all she has." Emma waited as the nurse flipped through her file.

"What's your name?" The nurse asked.

"Emma Swan." The blonde tapped her the toe of her boot nervously on the ground.

"I don't see your name on her contact list. The only person that is listed as an emergency contact is a Hunter Graham." The nurse looked back up at Emma apologetically.

"Sheriff Graham is her emergency contact?" Emma asked out loud, not really expecting an answer.

"I'm sorry I can't help you more." The nurse rose from her chair. "Is there anything else you need? I need to go check on a few patients."

"No, no. Thank you." Emma casually nodded and smiled in the nurses directions.

"Okay, well you know where to find me if you end up needing anything else." And with that she turned and headed out of site.

When Emma made it back to Henry's room, he was sprawled out just like he usually was at home. She could see the bandage over his left eye, and hoped the scar wouldn't be too terrible. I guess Graham was right, he would be able to use it to get the girls when he got older. Much older.

She set her coffee down on the table between her and Henry and sat back on her bed/couch. She wrapped the blankets around her shoulders and took a deep breath, filling up every inch of her lungs. Her head fell back on her shoulders and she tried to figure out how they had gotten to this point. One day everything was great and she had been looking forward to spending the summer with her family, and the next everything had come tumbling down and she was worried that she may not even have a complete family at the end of it all. She had nothing to keep her going. Nothing to help the aching pain in her heart as the puzzle pieces kept piling up but never fit into any complete shape. Her energy was depleted, her brain running on fumes, and yet so much needed to be done.

Emma didn't realize she had dozed off when she was woken by panicked voices from the hall. She rubbed her eyes and headed immediately for the door to see what was going on. The light from the window was still low and she figured it was early in the morning, signaling the third day she had been at the hospital. Henry was still knocked out and his head was buried under his pillow, sheltering his ears from the noise outside.

When Emma opened the door she jumped back as a blur of white sped by her. The blur rounded the next hallway and headed out of her site. One of the nurses at the station across from Henry's room was on the phone with someone. When she slammed the phone down she grabbed a stack of papers and practically sprinted around the corner following the first blur.

"What's going on?" Emma stopped the nurse she had seen early that night since she seemed the least frenzied person in the hall.

"Just an emergency down in ICU. Nothing for you to fret over. I'm sorry if we woke you." The nurse was short and immediately headed in the direction of the doctor and the first nurse. Emma went back into Henry's room and grabbed her jacket, setting off in the direction of the emergency, hoping to cure her curiosity.

The sign for the ICU wing was huge and red and hung over a set of large double swinging doors, similar to the ones to Henry's observation ward. She stopped in the hallway outside of the doors, jumping a little as a nurse came sprinting bursting through and sprinting away. Emma caught the sight of the hallway behind the doors as they swung, a familiar body standing in the sunlight pouring through the windows lining the halls.

She pushed through and halted as soon as she fully recognized him.

"Graham?" She caught the words. He looked over at her, his eyes widening at the sight of her and he immediately started in her direction.

"Emma what are you doing here?" He approached her and made an attempt to push her back the way she came.

"I could ask you the same thing?" His grip on her arms was tighter than she was comfortable with and could sense in his eyes that something was not right.

She looked past him at the doctors and nurses darting out of one of the rooms. "Whose room is that?" She asked strangely calm considering her heart was racing.

Graham was silent but his grip tightened as he tried to push her out of the hallway. She didn't need him to answer. Why would he be here without her knowledge if something wasn't wrong? Why would he be pushing her out of the hallway? Why was he looking at her like a child who had just lost a pet?

Emma felt her knees go weak and the tears well up.

"Is that her? Is she in there? I need to see her. What is going on? Did something happen? Graham answer me!" She managed through her increasingly staggering breaths not allowing him time to answer between her questions.

"No, no." Graham immediately reassured her. "They called me because they were having some complications with trying to bring down some swelling. No, everything is stable. I told them to call me if anything happened, even something minor." He stepped back a little, giving her some room in the hallway for her to regain herself.

"I need to see her." Emma wiped her face and trying to push past him. He blocked her way.

"They have to make sure she is completely stable. Once they are through then I'll see if I can get you in. But Emma I have to tell you something." He ran a hand through his hair, wishing this was not happening right now. He knew he was going to hate telling her the truth and had hoped the moment he told her would have been a better time. But there was no good time with these types of things.

"The doctor told me she has had a lot of brain trauma. They didn't want to tell anyone until they were for sure, but they have come to the decision that she may have some memory loss when she wakes up. They aren't for certain how bad. They were trying to wait until her brain swelling had gone down to give a more complete diagnosis." Graham forced himself to look at Emma who had avoided his eye contact.

"What do you mean memory loss?" She forced out, staring at him. Her eyes burning for answers.

"Uh…" He sighed. "They aren't completely sure yet…"

"Graham stop lying to me!" She half yelled. "I feel like that's all you have been doing since I got here. Why can't you just tell me?" Emma pleaded. She was tired of waiting. Tired of wondering. Tired of guessing. She was ready to know what the damage had been.

"The doctor said she has lost all of her long term memory. Everything up to whenever she wakes up will be gone."

Emma felt her lungs burning, her legs beating the floor underneath her. She ran harder than she ever thought she could, tears blurring and burning her eyes. The sunlight outside hit her like a ton of bricks and she immediately leaned over in the grass and hurled the little fluid that was in her stomach. She hadn't eaten much the last two days and so there wasn't much, but what was there she could not hold down. Her entire body hurt. Her heart, her muscles, her soul. They were all so tired of this. She just wanted to be done. She just wanted to take her son and Regina and go home like nothing ever happened. She wanted to forget everything.

But all at once, for the second time, it all came back as her body convulsed and sent the last of what was left in her stomach out into the grass.

"Emma!" Graham came panting out the doors finding her hunched over the grass. "Are you alright?" He stepped over to her his hand gently falling on her back.

"Don't touch me!" She pushed him away. "Just don't. I can't do this." She cried out. The lingering taste of the bile in her mouth made her all the more sick to her stomach. It was like her body was physically experiencing what her emotional spirit could no longer handle.

When Regina woke up she wouldn't even know who Emma was, let alone anything about herself. Graham attempted to comfort her with possibilities for rehab and how they have come up with studies for people with memory loss and how a spark of a memory could trigger a spiral and bring back everything. But of course Emma was not interested. All she could think of was the woman she loved with every part of her would not even know her own name. She would not remember Henry. She would not remember that she was the most important person in Emma's life. That's not something she was willing to accept. She was not ready for this. She could never be ready for this.


	16. Visiting Hours

**I couldn't wait to post another chapter. Emma is still trying to get through this but she keeps getting more bad news from Graham. Hopefully the bad news will be over soon? Maybe! Thank you everyone who is reading. I'm so glad you are all into the story! It makes me excited to write and to post! **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Visiting Hours<strong>

A week had gone by since Emma first got the news of Regina's diagnosis. Graham's attempt to comfort her had gone unnoticed and quickly faded as the night's drug on. Henry had been released shortly after soon after Emma had heard about Regina. The brave face she put on for her son took more energy than her body really had, but she managed anyway. The doctors told him he would be fine by the end of it. A few Advil here and there and in a few days he would be good as new. Two days later, Henry was back to get the stitches out of her eyebrow. He played it off like the tough kid he was, but Emma could tell he was still hiding the pain.

Now she sat alone in the waiting room, waiting for the moment the doctors came out with the pass to go back and see her. Henry had gone to stay with his grandparents for a while, allowing Emma to spend the time she needed up at the hospital. He had come to visit one day and brought her some cookies, which still sat untouched on the chair next to her.

Graham had highly advised her to go home, but how could she? She couldn't allow herself to be any further away from Regina. She physically couldn't make herself leave. The hospital had showers, Ruby brought her clothes, the vending machines were expensive after a while, but kept her going on the little she could eat. The nurses even started giving her funny looks after a while. But Emma couldn't help it, she had become obsessed with seeing Regina again.

She had become so dazed by her time there that she hardly noticed the doctor standing in her line of sight. She had dreamed so many times of him being there that she figured she had just dozed off without realizing it, which she did on occasion. But this time was turning out to be quite different. It didn't matter how many time she blinked, he was still there.

"Emma Swan." The doctor spoke up and it sounded like an echo in Emma's ears. She saw the doctor squat down in front of her, getting eye level with her. He looked funny. Sideways. And she realized she was laying on her side, stretched out on one of the couches. When she had convinced herself this was not a dream she immediately shot up.

"Emma are you okay?" The doctors voice echoed again.

"Doctor Whale? What is it? What's wrong?" Emma's grip tightened on the couch before she pushed herself up.

"No, everything is fine. Everything is fine, Emma." He assured her, gently gripping her arms. Graham had told him to be careful when he talked to her. The sheriff had grown increasingly worried about the mental state of the blonde. He gave her the space she wanted, but knew she could only take so much of this.

"What is it?" Emma asked again. This time she could feel the sweat forming on her forehead.

"It's time." The doctor formed a thin line on his lips. Emma could feel the life leaving her body and seeping out through her feet. She lost her balance and fell back down on the couch.

"Easy. Easy, Emma. There is no rush. Take your time. She is not awake yet, but she is stable enough to be on her own. You just take your time, okay?" The doctor assured her. "I've called Sheriff Graham to come up here and help you if you need it." He added. Graham had told Doctor Whale about midweek to call him when it was time. Graham knew Emma didn't want him around as much, but he also knew that she didn't need to do all this by herself.

"I've spent too long waiting." She formed her mouth to the words. Her feet felt like jello beneath her and the sheer weight of gravity on her body was enough to push her through the ground. She didn't even realize she had begun walking until she saw the wooden door in front of her. The doctors hand pressed to her back for support as she reached out for the door. For the last week she had imagined this moment. The moment when she became a stranger to the woman she loved.

The door squealed open, as the picture of the room flooded Emma's eyes. It was so bright and white that Emma could hardly process the body lying in the bed. She felt herself get sick to her stomach again and she covered her mouth to hold it down. There were no more tears to be shed. Her body had let them all out causing the dry burning in her eyes to get worse.

"She hasn't woken up yet." Doctor Whale started. "But we figured you would want to see her before she woke up." He stayed back by the door as Emma stepped closer to the bed.

Her legs guided her to the edge. The woman's face was almost as she remembered it. She had gained a cut on her upper lip in the right corner, and the white bandage wrapped around the top of her head covered most of her hair. There was a white cast covering her left arm which laid motionless at the woman's side.

"We have been able to stop the bleeding in her brain. The bandage is only for the cut on her head. We are waiting for it to heal before we take the bandage off. Her left arm was fractured in two places from the collision. As far as everywhere else, her body was bruised pretty bad. But she is a fighter, Emma. She is recovering extremely fast." The doctor spoke from back close to the door, making sure to give Emma enough space.

"Will she remember me?" Emma asked, her eyes not faltering to leave the brunette's face. She reached out with her fingers, and without touching, the blondes fingers traced the side of Regina's cheek.

Doctor Whale took a moment to answer. "No. She won't. She won't remember anyone I'm afraid. The damage to her brain was too much to recover everything."

Emma was silent. She felt the words stab her in the back. The woman that had brought her out of so much, brought her out of her shell, loved her more than anyone had ever in her life, would no longer remember any of that. Emma's head fell down, her eyes closing to the silence.

"If you need me, I'll be outside." She heard the door close behind her. Taking a deep breath she looked back up at Regina. She watched her chest rise and fall in slow systematic movements. The machines around her beeped with her heart beat and pulse and Emma felt weird around them. It was like there was an artificial Regina around her, teasing her like everything was normal. Instead of her being the woman she knew she was, she was turned into some kind of conglomeration of beeping and lines beating across a screen. Emma hated it.

She moved her way to the right side of the bed, her hands sliding gently across the sheets that were neatly tucked under the mattress. She needed Regina to open her eyes. She needed Regina to see her. Maybe if she just saw her, she would remember her. Maybe all of this memory loss crap the doctors were talking about would just be some giant practical joke, and as soon as Regina opened her eyes she would remember. But Emma knew better. Things would never be the same.

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><p>"She looks so peaceful." Henry stood in front Emma at the foot of Regina's bed. Since she had been able to spend more time in the room, she had brought herself out of this little depression she had found herself in the week before. She was not back to normal by any means but she was able to at least function somewhat.<p>

"Yes, she does." Emma answered quietly.

"So, the doctors said that she won't remember us?" Henry questioned innocently. Emma felt the pang of his words and she felt the bumps spread across her skin.

"No, she won't." Emma answered shortly.

"Why can't we just tell her everything? Then she can remember." Sometimes Henry was so optimistic and Emma loved that about him. She loved his innocence. But this was not something that could be so easily fixed.

Emma kissed the top of Henry's head, and rested her chin down on his hair, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, crossing them on his chest. "I wish it was that easy, kid."

They looked on for a while until Henry grew somewhat uncomfortable. He didn't really like the fact that they could just stare at her whenever and she could never do anything. It made him feel like he was looking at some sort of caged animal that couldn't be free.

He turned around to look up at his mother. He could see the redness in her eyes from all of her crying. He felt terrible, knowing how much Regina meant to his mother. Even though he kept himself busy with school and basketball, he was no stranger to how stressful Emma's life was. He could see how much she loved Regina, and he was happy when she was happy. But now, he felt helpless in his mother's struggle.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked.

Emma's eyes slowly fell onto her son's face. She thinly smiled at him, pushing back the tears. "I don't know, kid."

Henry melted at his mother's words. This was the first time he had ever seen his mother so vulnerable and he hated it. He had never seen her just give up, or be so unsure about things. For the first time in his life, he was unsure of what was going to happen. His mother had been a rock for him and now she had been reduced to a small grain of sand in just two weeks.

He suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist, squeezing as tightly as he could, letting out tears of his own as they stained her shirt. Emma held him as close as she could, wishing she could hold him closer. Together they couldn't imagine what their lives were going to look like, or when things were going to change. But they needed each other. They needed to be strong for each other. They needed to be string for Regina.

"Henry I need you to be strong. For Regina. She would want you to be happy no matter what." Emma squatted down to eye level with her son. He looked down to his feet, wiping the tears from his cheeks. She pushed back his hair from his face and held his head up under his chin. "She loves you very much." Her own tears felt like they were going to burst through but she used all of her energy to hold them back.

"I know." Henry mumbled and nodded his head. He took a deep breath and looked back at the woman lying helpless in her hospital bed. He rubbed his cheek, catching a stray tear and looked back at his mother. "I know." He wrapped his arms around Emma's neck and squeezed. She couldn't help but smile at the courage of her son. How could she have gotten so lucky? She was not good enough to raise such an amazing kid. He had a heart all of his own, and Emma admired every bit of it.

Emma released her son and stood when she heard the door open behind her. Graham stepped in and motioned for Emma to come out into the hallway. Henry followed and when Graham gave Emma a stern look, she gave her son a few dollars and told him to go find them something to eat for lunch. He gladly took it, though looking between the adults suspiciously, he did as he was told.

"What's up?" Emma spoke up when Henry was out of earshot. She crossed her arms nervously around her chest, worried by what news Graham would have. She hadn't seen him in a few days and she had begun to wonder what he was up too.

Graham sighed heavily. "The driver woke up this morning." His voice was low and he avoided Emma's wide eyes staring back at him. "I haven't been able to see him yet, and he has only been able to answer a few of the doctors questions but they said he will survive."

She was speechless. Since the day she arrived at the hospital she had almost forgotten about the person that did this to her son and Regina. All of those feelings welled up inside. The anger, the pain, the hurt, the fury, the drive to kill the person who did this. She hated them. She hated that whoever it was was alive and breathing and awake and Regina still hadn't even opened her eyes. It made her sick to her stomach.

Her arms dropped to her sides and her shoulders pulled back like she was getting ready to attack. There were so many questions she had, so many things she wanted to say, but she couldn't find the words. Graham rested his hands on his hips, almost relieved by the lack of backlash from the woman, knowing that the timing of this information was not ideal.

"I've spent the morning trying to get in there and figure out what happened. Get his story. He had some trouble answering some of the doctor's questions but they said it was just from the medication he is on."

"Who is it?" Emma finally asked, her eyes glued to the floor. The question had been burning inside of her for so long, and she really had never even thought to ask it until now. There was so much information going into her that it never seemed relevant until now.

"He is a soldier from the base." Graham answered vaguely.

"Okay, but that didn't answer my question. Do you know him?"

Graham nodded his head.

"Do I know him?" Emma's voice raised a little.

Graham nodded his head again.

"Who the hell is it, Graham?" She was almost shouting, her eyes now burning a hole through his own. He was dodging the answer and she was fed up. He always did this and she knew by his face that she wasn't going to like the answer.

He remained silent.

"Graham, I have a right to know who tried to kill my family!" She protested. Her emotions boiled over and her fists balled up, her knuckles turning white with fury.

"It's Daniel." The words came out as almost a mumble and Emma had to strain to make sure she heard him correctly because she was pretty sure he couldn't have said _Daniel._

"Daniel." The name lingered on her tongue. "As in _Daniel, _Daniel, or another Daniel, because if you mean Regina's ex-husband Daniel then you better lock me up right now because we are about to have a serious problem." The tears began to fall down her cheeks.

The silence was deafening.

"Graham please tell me it's a different Daniel." At this point she couldn't even look at him.

"I'm sorry, Emma." He reached out for her.

"No!" She screamed. "You tell me that it's a different Daniel." Her voice cracked and then grew eerily soft.

"Emma." Graham managed. He wanted it be a different Daniel just as much as Emma. The man was his friend after all and the last thing he wanted was for something like this to happen.

"Look I'm trying to talk to him to figure out what happened. I don't know if it was just an accident or pre-meditated, but for now I just need you to stay here. I told you because I felt you deserved to know."

"You're damn right I deserve to know." Emma grumbled. "You better keep that piece of shit away from my family or I swear to God I will kill him."

"Emma, I know you are upset, but you can't say those things…"

"No. You don't get to tell me what I can and can't say." Emma shouted back. "You tell me why he gets to wake up and walk around while I wake up every morning wondering if Regina even made it through the night? How is that even fair? And the last time I checked that lets me say whatever I goddamn well please about any of this."

Graham remained silent while taking the beating.

Emma continued her rage. "As far as I am concerned he means nothing to me. And neither does anyone else besides my son and Regina. And I'll give you one piece of advice. You better keep him so far away from me because if I even get a _hint_ of him being anywhere near Henry or Regina," She stepped closer to him and her voice went quiet so he was the only one who could hear her. "I _will_ kill him."

She immediately turned at her words and headed straight back to Regina's room, slamming the door behind her, leaving Graham alone in the hallway to cool off.

Emma barely made it back to the side of the bed before doubling over at the edge and falling to her knees. She grabbed a hold of Regina's lifeless hand and brought it up to her lips.

"I can't do this anymore. Not without you. Please…" She squeezed her hand. Regina's hand was so soft and smooth and Emma couldn't take it anymore. "Please come back." Her words trailed off as she spoke.

Sobbing had become a large part of Emma's life in recent days, but this time it was different. She was so close to falling over the edge. And now it was more than just self-pity crying. This was much deeper, down into her soul. It was like she herself was dying. Just the thought of Daniel and Regina and everything was all coming crashing down on her shoulders. She was only one person and she couldn't do it anymore, she wasn't strong enough without Regina. She needed to hear her speak, and tell her everything was okay, and they would go home soon, and that she loved her. But she couldn't. She cried, her tears staining the bed below her. She kept her cheek near Regina's hand, pulling at what little life it had left.


	17. Interrogation

**Okay! Sorry for the delay guys I'm starting all of my finals and I'm soooo behind! It may be a week or more till the next chapter. I just have too much school to review everything. But I'll try and get pieces done so I can post a couple chapters after the long wait.**

**We are taking a break from Emma and Regina and focusing on Daniel in this chapter. You'll get to see how Daniel and Regina met! :)**

**Tips on how to read... the italic is what was said in the past between Regina and Daniel. The regular type is Daniel talking in the present. Clear as mud? Okay. Hopefully it's easy enough to figure out.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><span><strong>Interrogation<strong>

Graham waited patiently outside of his friend's room while the nurses helped their patient change his robes. For the last few days Graham had prepared himself for this day. It had been over two weeks since the accident and Regina still hadn't woken up. Daniel had woken up only a few short days ago, and despite the multiple cuts over his body he seemed like he was going to walk away in one piece.

But despite all of that, the man behind the door hooked up to all the machines was still a suspect in this whole situation, and Graham needed to find out what happened. If not for his own sanity, but for the sanity of those most greatly affected by all this. For Emma and her family.

When he heard the door open he stood up from the wall he was leaning on and patiently waited for the nurses to collect what they needed and head off down the hallway. Just before the door shut he stuck his hand out, catching it before it latched and pushed it open slowly.

Graham entered the room as Daniel was sliding back into bed and situating all of his IV's around him so he didn't pull them out. The room was dark, except for the small light above Daniel's bed that was so dim it didn't even hardly reach past the bed.

"Ugh. These IV's are a bitch." Daniel mumbled to himself. Through his struggle he hadn't noticed the sheriff standing in the door way. When he finally did notice him his features fell a little, realizing no doubt why Graham must have been there..

"So I've heard." Graham walked further inside the room, keeping a delicate distance from the bed. "How's the face?"

"Oh you know. I'm probably going to be scary as shit for a while. But the scars will be cool." He sounded like he was in a way better mood than he should have been and it gave Graham a bad feeling.

"Daniel, I'm just going to get right to it. I'm not really hear to pass the time with you." Graham wiped the exhaustion from his eyes. Daniel adjusted himself nervously again in the sheets, and Graham could tell this was going to be the toughest conversation he had ever had. Daniel was one of his closest friends in town. They had known each other for many years and had shared many of life's trials together. Graham spoke at both of Daniel's parents funerals and was his best man when he married Regina. There wasn't much that they didn't do together. And now, Graham may have to charge Daniel with murder.

After a few minutes of thought and silence Graham pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down.

"It's time for you to tell me what happened. I got 2 women and a little boy that deserve to know why all of this happening to them. You've got a lot of shit coming your way, and I want to help you as much as possible but I got to know what happened."

Daniel sat in silence for a while, his head down, Graham hopeful that he was gathering his thoughts before he spoke. Daniel knew what he did. But was he ready to admit it?

"Did I ever tell you about the first time I met Regina?" Daniel started.

Graham sat back in his chair in a huff. "Look, Daniel this is not…"

"I know, but you want me to tell you what happened… this is me telling you."

Graham crossed his arms and remained silent.

"The first time I met her I was on leave from the base. I had gotten in mid-afternoon I guess and I decided to just go for a jog and see the town since I hadn't been home in so long. I made it around to the docks and I saw a woman standing out on the edge of one of them. I figured I would head down to see if she was okay because she was alone and it was starting to get dark." Daniel looked up at the ceiling as if he was picturing the very moment.

"So anyway, when I made it over to her I sat down on one of the benches to take a breath. I think I scared her a little because she gave me this horrific look." He laughed at the thought. "But she just seemed to keep her attention on the water and not me, so I figured she didn't see me as a threat.

_"You, uh, you like the water?" _

"I just wanted to start some kind of conversation you know. She was kind of the first person I had really stopped to talk to since I got home, and she turned out to be a very beautiful woman, so why wouldn't I? Of course she didn't answer me."

_"My name is Daniel. I work on the base just outside of town."_

"She gave me such a strange look that it was hard for me not to smile. But she reluctantly nodded her head and told me her name."

_"Regina."_

_"Do you come out here a lot?"_

_"Sometimes when I get off work." _

"I tried to keep it cool you know. Just striking up some conversation. I could tell she was starting to warm up to me. She would actually look at me when I spoke."

_"I used to come up here all the time as a kid. I used to jump off that dock over there and try to swim to the other side there. But I could never make it."_

_"Sounds dangerous."_

_"Sure. But when your buddies dare you, you kind of have to at least try."_

"She was so gorgeous you know, and she could see right through me. She had a power-esque about her that I couldn't shake. It was refreshing."

_"You come here when you get off work then? What kind of job drives a beautiful woman all the way to the docks?"_

"I knew I had to be on my A game by the look she gave me when I asked her that question. I mean I could imagine the thoughts going through her mind like, who the hell is this strange handsome man asking me about my life right? Clearly I would have been put off too, but I couldn't let this one go."

_"I'm actually the principal at the high school."_

_"Oh. I can see why this place would be appealing. You know my father used to have a boat and he would take my mother and me out on it some weekends and we would just enjoy the fresh air. Nothing beats the air on the water you know. It changes you."_

_"So I've heard." _

"She sort of turned to me after she said that, and I could tell that my charm was working. She was getting more comfortable for sure. And she started to ask me questions. I was so close."

_"I'm sorry, where did you say you were from again?"_

_"I'm from here, but I live at the base now. Long history of military in my family, so I figured I would join the cause. All my buddies joined when I did. It's kind of a waiting game now on when we will could be sent away. My mother doesn't like it, but you know, someone has to do it."_

_"I'm sure she doesn't. Or your wife for that matter."_

_"Oh, I'm not married."_

"She thought I was married. HA!"

_"Oh."_

_"Look, it's getting kind of dark. I'd hate for you to walk home by yourself."_

_"I have my car here, just on the other side of the marina. But thank you."_

"She smiled. Oh man. That smile. It was overwhelming me.

_"Then I shall be no less than a gentlemen and walk you to your car."_

"I had to. There was no way I was going to leave her on that dock alone. I was hooked for sure."

_"That would be very kind of you."_

"She drove a pretty nice car for a principal. And I tried to keep her there as long as I could without making her uncomfortable of course. I didn't want her to think I was stalking her or something. She was just so beautiful. That was the first time I asked her to dinner. And she put me down easy that's for sure, but it still hurt a little. She told me that she doesn't like to give out her number to strangers, which I could totally agree, I mean who would give their number out to a random soldier? But she did say that if we ever happened to run into each other again then she would consider it. That was all I needed to hear really." Daniel's head fell back in his shoulders as he took a deep breath.

"I can still remember what perfume she was wearing. It was a sweet apple smell and it lingered on me till the next time I spotted her in town. It had been days at that point since we met at the dock. I was going out for some building supplies for my parent's house. They were redoing part of it and when my dad got sick he didn't have the energy to do any of it. So it turned into my special project. But I remember walking out of the hardware store down on 5th and I saw her on the other side of the street. I tossed my bags in the back of the truck and headed straight to her. God, she was like a drug."

_"Regina!"_

"She didn't stop the first time I called her name, probably because she didn't recognize my voice. But once I got to the other side of the street she finally stopped."

_"Regina, hey!"_

_"Hello."_

_"You remember me? Daniel, from the dock?"_

_"Yes, Daniel-from-the-dock. I remember you."_

"She had a sense of humor. It was great."

_"How are you?"_

_"I'm fine, how are you?"_

_"Better now."_

"I learned then that I loved to make her blush. That was the first time, which led to many more. We walked for a while and caught up on the last few days. We ended up at Granny's after a while and so naturally I asked her in for coffee."

_"It's still pretty early and it's kind of chilly. Do you want to go inside?"_

_"I guess shaking off the chill wouldn't hurt anything. I'll have to head out soon though, I have to drive to the city for a conference."_

_"I'll take whatever time I can get."_

"We ended up talking for over an hour. I told her all about life at the base and she told me about her job at the high school, which she loved. The coffee was sweet and she was sweeter. Hands down the most amazing woman I'd ever met."

_"Well, I better get going. I have a long drive ahead of me."_

_"Can I see you again?"_

"Her smile sent shivers down my spine."

_"Tell you what, Daniel-from-the-dock, here is my card. Call me."_

"I had done it. Seriously, I was like a child that had just been given the biggest chocolate bar. I couldn't hardly even say thank you.

_"Absolutely!" _

"She left without another word. But she didn't have to say anything else. I held onto that card like it was a lifeline."

The room fell silent for longer than Graham was comfortable with. He had no idea why Daniel was telling him this, and he really just wanted to know what happened at the accident. He loved Daniel to death but this was no time for stories. He needed answers. He needed something to tell Emma.

"Daniel, I understand your past with Regina, but what does this have to do with now? You are facing attempted murder charges on top of DUI's and all that. I need to know what happened."

"What happened was I fell in love with the woman of my dreams. And I married the woman of my dreams, and then I had to leave the woman I loved to go fight a war to protect that woman. Did I know I was going to get captured and stuck in a jail cell for over a year? No. Did I know that every day I was stuck in that cell I would have thought about Regina and what she could be thinking? No. Did I know that my commanding officers would tell my wife that I was dead? No. And yet it all happened. And then when I came back, it was like everything had changed. I was not one of the lucky ones that came home to a wife happy to see you." Daniel was almost in tears but he held them back.

"If you had of seen the look on her face when she opened that door. It looked like a mixture between horror and utter disbelief. I was like a walking, talking, and breathing ghost. Neither of us knew what to do with ourselves. There was something different about her. When she got home from work it was like I had to pull teeth just to get her to talk to me. Yeah she seemed like she was trying and in our fits of anger she promised she would keep trying, and I always gave her space. What else was I supposed to do? She thought I was dead."

"Daniel, I know this has been a rough year. But none of this is relevant to what happened. Please work with me." Graham rubbed his eyes of the sleepiness and frustration that was overwhelming him.

"I would never hurt her." Daniel forced the whisper, this time losing control of his tears. "I swear to you, I would never hurt her." His head fell into his hands and his body rocked with the tears. He quickly regained himself though, taking a deep breath and wiping his face.

"You have to believe me, Graham. That woman has been my whole life. The divorce drove me insane. I just couldn't take how we were living. I knew something was wrong." He laid his hands open in his lap. "You know… the night I showed up at the house, and I saw Emma in the yard when they brought me out, I knew. I knew in that moment that it was over. Why would she have been there? I knew there had to be something between them. But I just didn't want to believe it. Then when we were at the station, she told me everything. And though it was the hardest thing I'd ever had to endure in my entire life, worse than even that fucking jail cell in Iraq, I sat there and took it. Because whether it was with me or not, I just wanted her to be happy. And I knew that she wasn't happy with me."

Graham got up and walked to the door. He had heard enough. There was no way this man was capable of doing any of this on purpose. He was just hurt. And fell into an unfortunate circumstance. Graham was sure he would do all he could to see that Daniel didn't suffer any more than he had too.

"Wait, Graham. You believe me right? I would never want to hurt her." Daniel sat up straight in his bed, his words reaching for Graham for answers.

"I know, Daniel." Graham opened the door and stepped out. He didn't look back. He had heard enough.

He knew that it would take a few days for Emma to calm down after getting the news about Daniel. So he decided to call this one a night and head back to the station. There was a lot of paper work to be done before this whole mess got even bigger with the charges and court and everything else. Graham was not looking forward to any of it. These were the days that he hated being sheriff. The days when someone else's fate was decided by what he wrote down on a useless piece of paper and handed to the judge. He didn't like having that kind of power. But nevertheless the people of this town put their lives in his hands and it was his duty to ensure that they were safe and accounted for. He had failed Regina, and Emma, and Henry, and even Daniel. He felt almost responsible for all of this, but he knew he couldn't let it eat at him. The last thing he needed was more guilt on his plate.


	18. Just Another Day

**Alright, well I couldn't leave you guys with that last chapter. And I'm a terrible student and am writing instead of studying. So here is another one! yay! This one is another tough one. Seems like Emma just can't catch a break. Now this time for sure it may be a little while until the next chapter. It just didn't feel right leaving you guys with anything other than Emma and Regina. **

**PS: Thank you everyone who is reading this! I feel like it's kind of a depressing story right now, but I promise it will end on a happy note! And I appreciate every single one of your views and comments and follows and favorites and everything else. :) **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Just Another Day<strong>

Emma slowly woke up just like she had done for the past two weeks in the same hard hospital couch/bed she had been sleeping on. As her vision cleared she saw what she had seen for so long. Regina was still lying in the same perfect position as she was in when Emma first walked into her room. The pain had become numb to Emma, and everything around her just felt like it was becoming normal. Nothing had changed. Nothing was different. The doctors really couldn't even explain why she hadn't woken up yet. There was nothing in the tests that would show she didn't have the ability to wake up.

So Emma went about her usual day of sitting and waiting. There were visitors every now and then but mostly she looked forward to when Henry came up at least once a day and spent some time with her. Graham had not come back since the day he told her about Daniel. She felt a little guilty for getting so angry, realizing that the man was only doing his job when he told her the news. Nevertheless she wished that everything he said was not true. There were so many questions swarming her mind. Did he do it on purpose? That was the big one that she struggled with daily. If he had done it on purpose then it was because he was mad. And if he was mad it was because of her. Which would make this all her fault. Could it have just coincidence? These were the questions that plagued her every day. And none of them brought her any comfort.

The weekly morning nurse came in just as Emma finished washing her face in the sink. "Good morning, Emma. How are you feeling today?" The nurse casually asked as she checked the machines at Regina's bedside.

"Same as yesterday I guess. And the day before that." Emma answered plainly. She stepped out of the way to make sure the nurse had enough room to navigate around the bed. "Anything new?"

"Everything still looks stable."

Emma sighed heavily and wiped some water she missed on her forehead off on the back of her hand and wiped it on her pants.

"I'm sorry I can't give you much more information. We just have to keep holding on that one day she will come back. I'm really glad you are here with her. Lots of patients we get like this don't have much or any family at all so they just lay here alone. It's refreshing to have someone like you around. If she knows you love her, she will pull through." The nurse sounded so genuine, and Emma understood what she was trying to say, but at the same time she had heard those words said to her for almost a month and nothing had changed. Emma smiled so as to not be rude and thanked the nurse before the woman headed back out to the offices in the hallway.

Emma leaned her body up against the small closet next to the sink and allowed her head to drop forward. She took a deep breath, a shallow deep breath, and let her body try to relax as best she could. She thought about about what the doctors had said about there being no reason why she wasn't waking up. That hurt more than some of the other news she had been given since this all started. Did Regina not feel like she had a reason to live? Does she not know how much she mattered? Does Regina understand that Emma, or Henry for that matter, would never be the same if she never woke up?

She stepped over to the bed and stood next to Regina. It looked like her body wasn't even real. Without the constant rise and fall of Regina's chest, Emma would have probably convinced herself weeks ago that this was just a fake version of Regina and this whole thing was some sick practical joke. But her breaths and the beeping heart monitors kept Emma stuck in reality.

She reached down and gently stroked Regina's fingers that stuck out of the cast on her left arm, her skin warm to the touch just like it always was. Despite her state the brunette continued to radiate with beauty. Emma couldn't help but interlock her fingers in the brunettes, holding on with all the strength she no longer had and she sunk down to her knees, laying her head on the side of the bed.

Through her steady breathing to keep herself calm she hardly noticed the pressure growing around her hand. She almost thought it was her imagination playing tricks, teasing her into thinking that Regina was actually holding her hand instead of her fingers lying loosely around her own. When her nerves finally sent the message to her brain that this was not a drill or her imagination her eyes immediately shot up to the hand in hers. She watched it closely as the fingers curved slowly over onto Emma's knuckles and tightened around her skin, the cast hindering too much motion.

Emma was frozen inside trying wrap her brain about what was happening. She stood up from where she had bent over, her hand still wrapped in the brunette's. Suddenly the woman's eyes started making small movements under her eyelids and working down her body all the way to her toes. Emma watched as the frozen posture of the woman melted in front of her eyes. Her toes twitched, then a leg, then her hand wrapped around Emma's even tighter, and then… her eyes.

Emma frantically reached over and attacked the nurse call button, pounding it with her fist. If she had hit it just a little harder, she probably would have broken it.

Then her eyes opened. The eyes that had been shut from Emma for almost a month were now open and Emma had no idea what to do. She had prepared herself for the worst and now this was happening. Right now. This was happening. How could this be happening? Was this real?

"Regina?" Emma pulled her free hand up to the woman's cheek gently trying to gain her attention. The woman's eyes wondered for a moment before landing on Emma's face. Emma could see the confusion behind Regina's eyes and when her eyebrows scrunched together Emma knew that what the doctors had told her had to be true and she felt a piece of her die. Regina didn't recognize her. But that wouldn't stop Emma from trying to trigger a memory.

"Regina, it's me. Emma?" She tried to say her own name hoping it would trigger something. But as Regina's eyes drifted away from her and close again, Emma's heart began to race desperately.

"No, Regina stay with me. Please stay with me. Keep your eyes open. Please. Regina it's me, Emma. Stay with me." Emma had let go of the woman's now limp hand and held on to the woman's face trying to keep her steady. Her eyes fluttered open for tiny seconds but she could not hold them open long enough. And as quickly as those dark brown pearls were there, they were gone.

"No, babe, please." Emma had been quickly reduced to tears. "Stay with me." She rubbed on the woman's cheeks with her thumbs and tried to kiss her. Their lips touched through Emma's falling tears. "Regina, please." She kissed her again, a little harder this time, but there was nothing. Emma wiped her face and stood up searching the machines for some kind of answer but found none. She pushed at the nurse call button again and then immediately headed out into the hall, becoming impatient that this was happening and nobody was there to explain it or help her.

"NURSE!" She screamed out. Her tears overwhelming her. She could hardly breath and her eyes burned with the pain inside of her.

The nurse poked her head out from behind her desk and was immediately startled by the woman scene approaching her desk.

"Emma? What's wrong?" She stood up and walked around the desk to meet her.

"Did you not hear the button? She woke up! What do we do? She woke up, she looked at me, she moved. Where is Doctor Whale? I pushed the button. Where the hell is everybody?" Emma halted herself at the desk searching around for the doctor.

The nurse was already on her way to the room before Emma could finish talking. The doctor was nowhere in sight so she immediately followed the nurse back into Regina's room hoping to gain some answers. She felt like her body was bouncing off the walls but she couldn't pinpoint what was causing it. Excitement, fear, anger, pain, loneliness. Everything was fogging up her brain and when she made it back to Regina's room she could feel her hands shaking and squeezed them together nervously as she waited for the nurse to tell her something. Anything.

"So, what happened?" Emma watched the nurse search through the machines clicking buttons and making them beep.

The nurse checked Regina's heart beat and her pulse and then clicked through some of the past information on the screens but the face she gave Emma when she was finished was not what Emma expected.

"What? What happened?" Emma asked again, eyes wide in anticipation.

"As far as I can see… nothing. Nothing has changed." The nurse gave her the saddest look Emma had ever seen, and the blonde knew exactly what she was thinking. The nurse was thinking Emma had just imagined it all happen. Well that was surely not the case.

"No." Emma pointed at her. "No, she woke up! She held my hand. She looked at me!" Emma protested.

The nurse stepped over to Emma and put a hand on her shoulder. "Emma, I know this is hard. We are all losing sleep and sometimes our minds like to play tricks on us when we are extremely tired."

Emma pulled away from the nurse immediately at her words. "I am not crazy." Emma spit through gritted teeth.

"Oh, that is not at all what I'm saying dear. I'm just saying that maybe you are just tired and your brain _thought_ it saw her move. It happens, Emma. To all of us."

"I did not imagine this! She woke up. I looked into her eyes. I spoke to her. I don't understand what's happening." Emma was growing angry as she wiped the still falling tears from her now flustered cheeks. How could this nurse not believe her? Emma knew what she saw. Didn't she?

"Emma, please, relax. I'll call Doctor Whale and have him sit down with you okay? Maybe you need to just talk it out." The nurse forced a smile and then left the room. There was nothing more for her to say. She was left in a pile of rubble at the foot of Regina's bed as the door clicked closed behind her.

Emma couldn't have imagined it could she? She was sitting right there and watched it all happen. Just as she had every night in her dreams. This couldn't have been a dream could it? What if it was? Emma couldn't even think straight anymore. Did she imagine it? She guessed it was possible, but she knew what she saw. She wasn't crazy.

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><p>For the rest of the day Emma found herself unable to step foot in Regina's room. She left quickly after the nurse had left and spent most the day pacing the hallway. Graham had shown up that afternoon after getting a worried call from the nurse. Emma almost didn't want to see him, but knew he wasn't there to give her any more bad news so she welcomed the company. Honestly there wasn't much in the way of bad news left for him to give. Except maybe that she was going crazy.<p>

"I know what I saw Graham. I am not crazy." Her face was flushed with nerves and her voice was hushed as they talked in a secluded corner of the hospital.

Graham rubbed his hands over his unshaven chin. He had spent the last few sleepless nights at the station going through the hordes of paper work he had to do before any action could be taken against Daniel and he had just laid down for a nap when he got the call from the nurse. The nurse told him that Emma had been pacing the hallway for nearly three hours after what had happened and thought it would be a good idea if someone was here to talk to her since Dr. Whale was stuck in surgery.

"I know you're not crazy. But they don't have anything to prove that she woke up. Nothing has shown up on the machines. I don't know what to think. Has it happened again?" Graham asked concerned.

"Maybe the machines are wrong. I don't know, I can't even go back in the room." Emma spoke exasperated.

"Emma, you need to go home." Graham stated shortly.

Emma was passive by the comment, having heard it several times by multiple people over the past month. "Graham come on, you know that's not going to happen."

"I'm not asking you." Graham stated stated more firmly. "Go home."

"No. I'm not leaving until I know what is happening. "

"Emma you can't even go into her room. What are you going to do, sleep on the floor in the hallway?"

"If I have to, yes. I have to be here Graham. I would never forgive myself if I wasn't here when she woke up."

"Emma, I cannot allow you to do that. It's time for you to go home. Think about your son."

Emma's passive tone turned to immediate anger, and she deliberately turned to the sheriff, her face pouring with fury. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare hold my son over me like bait. He knows how much I love him and he knows why I'm here."

"Sure, but do you? Do you know why you're here Emma?" Graham argued.

"Of course! I'm here for Regina. Why else would I be here? Don't turn this on me Graham. I didn't ask for this! I didn't ask for any of this! So you can take what you think you know and shove it up your ass. I'm staying here." With that Emma pushed passed Graham, knocking him in the shoulder as she passed him. Her boots echoed down the hall and Graham couldn't help but kick himself. He wasn't good at this kind of thing obviously, and he hated that every time he talked to Emma he seemed to make everything worse.

Emma on the other hand was racking with fury as she walked away from him. As soon as she was down an empty hallway she threw a fist at the wall, beating it as hard as she could. The pain bolted through her arm as she pounded the white walls, her knuckles bruising with each hit against the dry wall. She was sure she wasn't going to stop until her fist was through the plaster.

"AHHH!" Her shouts turned to tears and as her energy depleted her body fell to the floor. She felt like this was never going to end. Things were never going to change. Giving up seemed so much easier than this. Everybody thought she was crazy, she was living at the hospital, she hadn't eaten anything in at least two days, sleepless nights plagued her and yet she couldn't find the switch to just turn it all off. There was no switch. She never created one for herself. She had to keep going.

She cradled her now throbbing knuckles to her chest and before she could think to do anything else she flipped out her cell phone and dialed the number she had memorized so many years before. The other end rang twice before the heavy voice came through her ears.

"Emma Swan! It's been a while. I thought you'd forgotten about me." He spoke enthusiastically.

"August?" Emma sniffed through her pain. She couldn't bring herself to say anything else as her stomach wrenched as she cried.

"Emma? What's going on? What's wrong?" His tone turned immediately edgy on the phone. His voice low and demanding of answers. Emma couldn't find any words. She didn't know why she called him. She just needed to know that someone was still on her side and would stay with her despite everything. Just like she did when she was a kid. All those times she found herself hiding in her closet at her foster house while her foster father broke nearly every possession in their house in a drunken fit, curled up in a ball as August's voice calmed her over the cell phone he had given her when he left the house after he turned 18. It all seemed like a precursor to this moment. But this time she wasn't running away from her father but running away from herself.

"Emma?" She heard him speak again, this time more deliberate.

"August I'm scared." She whispered through her tears. Her own voice mimicking the 10 year old manifesting inside of her. She was scared, she was lonely, she was in a dark place inside of her own mind.

"Scared of what, Emma? What happened? Is Henry okay?" He sounded soft yet intensely curious. She hadn't told him about the accident. This was the first time she had talked to him since before the accident but explaining what happened over the phone was not something she was planning or had the ability of doing. She was lost.

"I don't know what to do anymore." She kept on. She didn't know what to say or how to say it she just needed to say something. And all she could think of was her falling apart, and her world coming to a crashing halt.

"Emma, you gotta talk to me. What is going on? Where is Henry?"

She kept crying. She didn't think she would have been able to cry anymore, but the tears came all the same. The sobs echoing in the man's ear on the other line could have brought him to his knees if he wasn't already sitting down.

"Okay okay. I'm on my way right now. Just… _ah damn it…_ I'm on my way Emma." Emma could hear the shuffling on the line but only from a distance as the phone fell from her hands into her lap. She didn't even have the energy to hold it up anymore. The brightness of the hallway dug into her temples and she hated being there. Her body fell to the side and she pulled her knees up to her chest, squeezing as hard as she could. Maybe she could just end it all by squeezing herself to death. It was the only way to quiet this terrible dream she had found herself in.


End file.
